The Consequences of Snooping
by DecidedlyPositive
Summary: Non-massacre fic. Sakura had gone in with the intention of finding some way of blackmailing him. So just how did she end up being the one blackmailed into going on a date with him? Damn sneaky geniuses.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. A fact which I have cried over many times ^_^. **

**Summary: Non-massacre fic. Sakura had gone in with the intention of finding some way of blackmailing him. So just how did she end up being the one blackmailed into going on a date with him? Damn sneaky geniuses. **

* * *

Uchiha Itachi. One of Konoha's most revered and celebrated ANBU captains, future leader of the prestigious Uchiha clan, and a prodigy with a genius intellect that would rival even Nara Shikamaru's.

To put it lightly, Sakura was screwed. To put it bluntly, Sakura was totally, _undoubtedly_ screwed. A fact which Inner Sakura was currently helpfully reminding Sakura at this very moment. Now, why was Haruno Sakura in extreme amounts of trouble right now? That would have to be due to the fact that she was attempting to break into the aforementioned genius' room in an attempt to, in Naruto's inspiring words, "Find some dirt on the teme's spying brother and blackmail the hell out of him!"

Dammit. It was all Naruto and Sasuke's fault that she was doing this in this first place, as they all agreed that Naruto probably wouldn't even make it into the Uchiha compound undetected, and if Sasuke was caught ransacking his older brother's room by Itachi he would most likely never be heard from again. So Sakura was unanimously elected to do the dirty work.

This entire thing was actually Naruto and Sasuke's doing from the very beginning. The reason that the trio now had to find something to blackmail Itachi with was that he had caught them doing something they _really, really_ shouldn't have been doing. Something that could potentially land them in lots of trouble with the Hokage if they were ever found out. Something that had been her two idiotic teammates' so-called brilliant idea. Though it seemed Itachi hadn't said anything yet, a fact which mystified the three sixteen-year-old chunins, they needed to ensure he kept his mouth shut about it.

Sakura had hopefully suggested that Sasuke ask Itachi to help him out by not saying anything about the incident out of the brotherly love in his heart, to which Sasuke snorted and gave a disheartening reply of, "Sakura, Itachi used up all the brotherly feelings he ever had for me about ten years ago. Now he exists for the sole purpose of making my life as miserable as possible."

So, here Sakura was picking the lock on the ominous looking door to Itachi's room (how the hell did he manage to make even his _door_ look scary?). She had successfully scaled the walls of the residential area reserved only for the Uchiha clan, stealthily masking her chakra along the way, and had quickly headed towards the grand house that only the head of the clan and his family resided in. For one frightening moment, she had thought Sasuke's cousin Shisui had spotted her in the shadows, but was quickly relieved when he just yawned, scratched his head, and continued on his way. Sasuke had left the window to his room unlocked for her, so it was a simple matter to climb up the conveniently-placed tree outside his window and slip into the house from there. Thank goodness Sasuke had told her his parents would be dining at a relative's house that evening. She really liked Uchiha Mikoto and Fugaku, and they were fond of her in return (she and Naruto were common visitors to the Uchiha compound, what with being best friends with Sasuke and all), but she didn't exactly fancy trying to explain why she was breaking into their house.

Itachi's door suddenly gave a soft _click_ as she triumphed over the lock, and Sakura cautiously pushed the door open. Itachi was one of the top ANBU captains, she wouldn't put it past him to have set up some nasty traps in his room so that he could capture and kill innocent pinkettes like herself that tried to sneak in.

She surveyed the room with a critical eye, making sure there weren't any exploding tags or the man-eating plants that Sasuke swore Itachi grew in his room, and relaxed slightly, finding none. With a deep breath, she crossed the threshold of the doorway and into his room, brushing her face off lightly when what felt like cobwebs or dust floated over her.

Sakura stopped in the middle of the room, looking around incredulously. _What in the—? Is this guy OCD or something? Hell, maybe Naruto's right, he IS a robot!_ For Itachi's room was the most perfect, organized, housekeeper's-dream-room that ever existed. His bed was made up flawlessly, with nary a wrinkle to be seen, and there were no signs of clothing or personal items strewn around the bedroom, like there were in Sasuke's. In fact, the only other furniture in Itachi's room was a sensible looking brown desk and a large chest of drawers. If she was going to find anything even remotely criminating, she'd have to look, as Kakashi said, underneath the underneath. _Though I'm sure Kaka-sensei didn't mean that literally_, Sakura thought to herself in grim amusement as she hurriedly bent down to peek under Itachi's bed. _Please, oh, please let there be dirty magazines or something of that nature here…damn it, nothing! _

Sakura stood up after her search under the bed yielded nothing, sighing and heading over to the desk to rummage through the drawers. _Mission reports, mission reports, mission reports—huh, he has prettier handwriting than me—receipts, mission reports. No journal or anything? _

She slammed the drawers to the desk closed in disgust, quickly glancing at the clock and seeing that she had wasted about six minutes looking through everything already. Now there was only his chest of drawers to snoop in. She flung open the top drawer, finding only socks lying there innocently. Nothing blackmail-worthy in this drawer. She slid it shut, moving on to the next drawer. After another minute passed by, Sakura was pretty much ready to admit defeat, and picked up one of Itachi's shirts that had fallen out of a drawer in her search, planning to put it back in and then make a quick escape out of the house. Sakura let out a small smile of relief, she was beginning to think she preferred A-ranked missions over infiltrating Itachi's room—

A quiet, but amused cough was let out behind her.

And that was when Sakura's whole plan of getting-the-hell-out-of-Sasuke's-house came crashing down around her ears.

* * *

Damn. Double damn. Triple damn. As usual, Sakura's innate habit of cursing showed itself in situations like these. For standing there, carelessly lounging against the doorway, was none other than Uchiha Itachi, wearing a dangerous-looking smirk on his aristocratic face.

Sakura's startled green eyes were drawn to his spidery fingers, which were playing with what looked like thin threads of silk, or like…her eyes widened in realization. _Shit!_

Itachi's quiet voice, slightly condescending, resounded throughout the silent room. "You know, Sakura, I've been experimenting with chakra traps lately." He lazily fingered the green strands of what Sakura now guessed to be chakra-filled threads. "It is…quite amazing, actually, of how much of a thin and delicate form chakra can be compressed into, making for _exceedingly_ efficient traps. The trespasser never even knows they're there, as they are naked to the invisible eye, and near-impossible to detect otherwise. If the chakra is disturbed in any way, the user is immediately aware that someone…unwelcome is where they are not supposed to be."

Well. That explained what the dust she had thought brushed against her face actually was. Sakura swallowed hard, her quick mind rapidly shifting through different possibilities of escaping with all her limbs intact. But this was Itachi right? The man she'd known since she was young, ever since she befriended Sasuke. He wouldn't actually torture her, right? Right? Nevermind, she was screwed. She scowled inwardly, making a mental note to beat Sasuke and Naruto within an inch of their lives after this. Forget what Kakashi-sensei said about bonds, she was _so _going to give them what they deserved for making her face Sasuke-kun's demon brother alone. Cowards.

Itachi seemed to know what was going through her head, for his lips curled upwards slightly in a semblance of a smile. "Rest assured, Sakura, I will spare you this one time. As long as you tell me exactly why you decided to break into my room, and, ah, steal my shirt apparently?" His dark eyes found the possession that she still clutched onto like a lifeline in her small hands.

Sakura cleared her throat nervously, saying, "Ah. Well, Itachi, that's a very interesting question actually. In fact, I'm not really here for your shirt. Sorry, it just kinda fell out when I was looking through—I mean, when I was—"

Itachi cut through her babble. "I'm still waiting, Sakura."

Ugh, could he _not_ say her name like it was melted chocolate on his tongue? It tended to be a little distracting. Sakura searched for a believable lie to explain why she was in his room.

Itachi was taken off-guard when Sakura suddenly smiled sweetly at him, her leaf-green eyes lighting up, and her voice transforming into a cheery…flirtatious tone?

" 'Kay, you got me, Itachi-_kun_! I'm in here 'cause I've been in love with you for months, and my fangirlish tendencies finally got the better of me! So, I ended up coming in here to steal your shirt so I could sleep in it!" There. Thank god for her years of acting like an airheaded fool when she had a crush on Sasuke. That ought to be a suitable excuse, one that most men would most likely fall for…

"Really now…" Then again, Uchiha Itachi was not most men. "So, this little excursion has nothing to do with the fact that I recently caught you, my foolish little brother, and the loud-mouth breaking into the Hokage's office at three o'clock in the morning to discover early whether or not you had been recommended for the upcoming jounin exams?"

Crap. "Er...no."

"There was no desire to, perhaps, find something potentially incriminating that would silence me on the subject forever?"

Sakura had only one thing to ask as she glared at his smug, pretty-boy face: How? How did Itachi always know every single thing? Whenever she talked to him, it was like he could pry open her head at will and see her thoughts written there. Hence the reason she tried to avoid conversation with the infuriating man most of the time. Damn sneaky geniuses.

Sakura straightened up and dropped the flirty act, saying grudgingly to Itachi, "Alright, Uchiha, so you've got us over a barrel. I suppose you'll be going to Shishou tomorrow to tell her we violated the rules you love so much?"

Itachi's disconcerting eyes surveyed her for a moment, before calmly stating, "No, I will not."

Sakura, however, paid no heed to his words, as she was still going off on a childish rant. "—because I can tell you if you do rat us out, I'll never, ever make my special brownies for Sasuke again, I know you eat them, he tells me you steal them from him _every_ time, but the brownie flow will definitely be stopping if you—wait, what?"

Itachi laughed softly, taking a few step towards Sakura, who backed away from him uncertainly. "As much as the threat of losing your brownies does indeed frighten me, Sakura, I will refrain from informing Tsunade of your activities on one condition."

"And what's that?" Sakura questioned him suspiciously.

"One date."

"Eh? With who?"

"Who else is in this room, Sakura?"

Sakura gaped at him, her mouth dropping open in horror. "You _aren't _serious, Uchiha!"

"I assure you I am."

He smirked. "Besides, just a moment ago you were confessing your undying love for me, Sa-ku-ra." He rolled the syllables of her name out teasingly. "What changed your affections so quickly?"

Sakura swore under her breath, if the Uchiha was trying to get on her nerves, he was succeeding. "I wasn't serious, you prick!"

He raised a single black eyebrow at her words, his smirk becoming slightly sadistic. Itachi fixed his gaze on Sakura, saying in mild tones, "Of course, if you wish to refuse, that is your prerogative, but I believe that if you truly care about your teammates you will not do so."

"This is blackmail!"

"And how is it any different from what you were aspiring to do to me? Call it what you will, Sakura-_chan_. You can give me your answer tomorrow."

Sakura huffed, thoroughly tired of playing word games with him, gave a curt nod, and stomped past Itachi's tall body towards the open door. A hand descended on her elbow suddenly, and, ever the gentlemen, Itachi told her, "I'll see you out. There is no need for you to leave through Sasuke's window."

Sakura was sure a vein in her forehead was throbbing now. Gritting her teeth, she managed to muster out, as politely as she could, "Thanks, but I'll manage to find the front door on my own." She tried to rein her anger in, as she didn't think the Uchiha clan would appreciate it if they were suddenly short one clan heir.

She yanked her arm from the annoying jerk's grip, stomped out his bedroom door, and down the hallway that led to the staircase. Her eye twitched when she heard what sounded suspiciously like quiet laughter coming from the direction of the elder Uchiha's room. "Bastard," she muttered furiously under her breath. After taking the stairs two at a time, she reached the main room of the Uchiha house and slipped out the sliding door, incredibly thankful to finally be leaving.

Sakura stood outside the main house for a moment, her shoulder-length pink locks stirring gently in the breeze that had picked up sometime in the evening. She looked up at the house in a speculating manner, wondering how much jail time she would be forced to do for burning down the Uchiha manor and the exasperating man inside of it.

* * *

**Hey! Just wanted to say thanks to anyone who's actually reading this story. I've been dying to write a fic for Itachi and Sakura for a while now, I was inspired by all of the wonderful ItaSaku authors whose works I've read on here. Please review, I'd really appreciate helpful comments, constructive criticism, or just a note saying you enjoyed reading. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: Oh, wow you guys! I just had to have a quick note before I start, to tell everyone thanks so much for their supportive comments! It's always nice to know that work is appreciated, but I had NO idea my story would be taken so well (I had some doubts about this piece), I actually started jumping around screaming and laughing happily that people were enjoying themselves, so now my family thinks I'm crazy ^_^. Ah well, it's a small price to pay. Now, I'll be quiet and let you read…**

**Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine. If I owned it, Itachi would so be alive right now. **

* * *

"H-he t-told," Hack. Cough. Hack. Naruto hurriedly swallowed the beef ramen he'd been choking on. "You to do WHAT?"

Sakura nodded miserably, having just related the gruesome tale of her unsuccessful escapade into Itachi's room last night to her two best friends. She just stared into the ramen-y depths of her Ichiraku bowl, contemplating trying to drown herself in it. Nah, it'd never work. Her forehead was way too big to allow her head to fit in the bowl, as Ino-pig constantly reminded her. Alrighty then. She'd get plastic surgery to downsize her forehead, and _then_ she'd drown herself in her ramen bowl. Genius.

She chanced a glance over at Sasuke, who was a pale, ashen color now and looking a little bit nauseous, as well as completely repulsed.

"That demon bastard! He can't do this to you, Sakura-chan! We'll kick the crap outta him first, right teme? C'mon Sasuke, let's—"

Naruto was cut off as Sakura firmly grabbed the back of his fluorescent orange jacket when Naruto actually made to jump up off of his stool, a murderous look fixed on his face.

"Naruto! Need I remind you that if I _don't_ go on this stupid date we'll all probably be assigned D-rank missions for a year if Tsunade-shishou finds out?" Sakura scowled ferociously as she scolded Naruto, an expression that was mirrored on his face.

"B-but Sakura-chan! We can't just sit by and watch as the teme's brother puts his slimy, greasy, bastardy hands—"

Sasuke interrupted Naruto, after seemingly recovering from his momentary lapse in living. "Sakura's right Naruto, Itachi's got us cornered, and I really don't see any way out. Only," He turned his confused navy eyes on Sakura, "I honestly wonder why Itachi wants _you_ of all people to go out with him."

Naruto edged away from Sakura, nervously eyeing the knuckles she was now cracking menacingly. Sakura advanced towards Sasuke, glowering at him. "Sasuke-_kun_, that had _better_ not have been meant the way it sounded. Is there something _wrong _with me that makes it so unbelievable that someone would want me?"

Sasuke realized his mistake quickly, sighing in irritation and staring at his friends with a little bit of worry in his eyes. He told them, "It's just that…Itachi doesn't usually ask for things like this when he wants favors or something." He snorted. "Hell, I didn't think my brother even noticed that females existed for reasons other than continuing on the clan bloodline."

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she hissed, "Oh, I'd say he noticed it pretty well last night, Sasuke! He practically had me cornered in his damn room and was looming over me all creepily and stuff!"

Sasuke's nauseated expression appeared on his face again. "Please, Sakura, I don't want to hear about my brother's newly budding hormones."

Naruto butted into the conversation, exclaiming in horror, "So, wait a minute guys, you think the robot's _attracted_ to Sakura-chan!"

Silence reigned over the Ichiraku counter for a moment. Then, all three chunin simultaneously burst into disbelieving laughter. Even Sasuke was having trouble keeping on his usual apathetic mask and covering up his mirth.

Sakura gasped out between laughs, "N-Naruto, I think we agreed that all Uchiha lack the normal human responses in every situation, especially Itachi."

Another minute or so of hearty guffaws ensued.

Sasuke recovered from his laughter first, quickly becoming grave. "But…we still need to figure out just what Itachi wants with Sakura. He must have some kinda ulterior motive for asking her on a," he shuddered, "date."

That shut the other two up, and both Naruto and Sakura became somber.

Sakura bit her lip, then said, "We don't have much time to think about it though. He said he wants my answer by today."

At this, Naruto stood up suddenly, his clear blue eyes blazing and a look of determination on his face. Sakura recognized this look, as it was the one that came over his face whenever he spoke about becoming Hokage some day. Speaking in a surprisingly mature and reassuring tone, Sakura's fox brother told her fiercely, "Ne, Sakura, don't worry about anything. We'll figure this out together, as Team Seven, and make sure you don't have to do anything you don't want to. Even if it means we're forced to do D-rank missions for a year, Sasuke and I'll stand by you no matter what."

Sakura felt her eyes watering slightly at Naruto's speech, and even Sasuke looked mildly impressed. Then, Naruto opened his mouth again, that determined look still shining in his eyes, and she and Sasuke eagerly leaned forwards to hear what he had to say—

"But, Sakura-chan! Please just consider going out on one, measly little date with the teme's brother! I really, really don't wanna be stuck doing lame-ass missions with little genin and—"

BAM. Naruto was lying about thirty feet away in the dirt, courtesy of one chakra enhanced punch. Sakura felt that vein throbbing in her forehead again. And she had actualy felt that Naruto was cool for a second. That idiot.

After Naruto hobbled back to his seat, taking solace in the presence of his now cold bowl of ramen, Sakura looked at her two boys. "So, any ideas about what Itachi's plotting by asking me out?"

Naruto slurped up a noodle. "Maybe he just wants to annoy Sasuke. It's what he lives for, after all."

Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe he's trying to get the clan off of his back by trying to find a girlfriend. They've been bugging him about getting married recently."

"Maybe he wants to enjoy an outing with Sakura-chan, and then turn us in to Tsunade-baa-chan anyways, that bastard!"

"Maybe he's planning to eventually marry her, as with Sakura's perfect chakra control and Itachi's Sharingan, their children would probably be impossibly strong. Then, after years of breeding, Itachi could take over Konoha with his army of little Uchihas. Then the world. I always knew he was a power-hungry bastard."

"Maybe he's gonna kidnap her and sell her on the black market to the highest bidder! Sakura-chan's awesome brownie-making abilities alone would probably make him rich beyond belief!"

"Maybe even worse dobe, maybe he's been obsessed with her for years, and we've just never noticed it. Maybe this is the chance he's been waiting for: he'll kidnap Sakura, chain her in the basement, and keep her there for the rest of her life!"

And on and on they went. Sakura had to perform breathing exercises she usually made patients with anger-management issues do, just to keep herself from murdering her two teammates. Just where the hell were they getting these far-fetched ideas? Itachi may be crazy, sadistic, and an emotionally repressed genius, but even she didn't think he was planning to tie her up over a pit of crocodiles to see how long it took her to get eaten, just for his own amusement (that was what Naruto had just suggested Itachi was going to do).

It was only when Sakura got down from her stool and pulled out her money to pay for her meal that Naruto and Sasuke finally stopped bickering over Itachi's potential devious plots. She offered them a half-hearted smile, which lacked its usual brilliance, and said, "I'm just going to head home now, guys. Thanks for the…help. I guess I'll just send my answer to Itachi later." Before either one could say anything, she strode out of Ichiraku's Ramen Shop and into the crowded main street, narrowly avoiding being run over by a man with a large cart laden with fruit.

The pink-haired girl allowed her feet to walk the familiar path home, her mind too occupied with Uchihas and dates and crimes to be of any use in paying attention to where she was going. However, when she did finally reach her apartment building, the familiar old, white building coming in sight, Sakura didn't even feel like going in. All she really had to look forwards to was a boring night reading through medical scrolls and the like anyways. Grumbling inwardly about wasted effort, and needing something to take her mind off of the slightly troubling turn her life had currently taken, she abruptly turned on her heel and made her way to the hospital.

* * *

If someone were to ask Sakura what her most valued treasures in life were, her reply would have to be that it was her family, her friends, and her job. Practicing healing, working to save people's lives, and seeing the grateful look on the faces of her patients never failed to cheer her up and cause her to forget about all of the worries in her life. Healing was her calling, she hardly considered it a job anymore. It more of a passion, a need, a desire to use her abilities to help people become stronger and live on.

Even though she was still only sixteen years old, Sakura was well onto her way of becoming one of the most accomplished medic-nin in the history of Konoha, taking great pride in her work and even greater pride in her accomplishment of breaking free from the chains of weakness that had bound her for so long.

Why might have been why, Sakura mused to herself as she washed her hands thoroughly in the sink after performing a routine checkup on a jounin, she was so irked over this business with Itachi. _This feeling of helplessness, of being trapped and not being able to do anything, really brings backs memories of when all I could do was scream for someone to come and save me. _She scrubbed at her hands even more vigorously, not noticing that they were turning a bright, irritated pink from her actions. _I don't need Naruto or Sasuke to save me from Itachi, dammit, I'll do it on my own! I can take that bastard on any day of the week, cha!_

Her thought process was interrupted by a bemused Shizune, who had appeared in the doorway while Sakura was preoccupied with washing her hands. Shizune had been surprised when Sakura had shown up on her day off, begging Shizune to let her help out for a while. Shizune had allowed her to, of course, but had observed the girl she thought of as a younger sister closely all day, noticing signs of worry and anger on her face. Now she was watching Sakura almost tear the skin off of her hands with the way she was absentmindedly washing them.

She cleared her throat, catching Sakura's attention. "I think your hands are fairly clean now, Sakura." She said with amusement.

Sakura blushed, turned off the tap, and dried her hands in quick succession. "Sorry, Shizune-nee-san, I was…thinking."

Shizune smiled, and said, "Sakura-chan, why don't you go home for the night? It's pretty slow around here now, so most of the other nurses are heading out as well."

The younger girl nodded her assent, and began to slip by Shizune and out the door.

"Sakura-chan, please wait for just a moment."

Sakura turned around, wearing a puzzled look. "Yes?" She questioned.

Shizune examined her face. "Are you feeling all right lately? You look a little worse for wear, Sakura."

To the elder medic's surprise, Sakura grinned broadly, telling her with a determined look, "Oh, I'm fine, Shizune-nee-san. I've just been a little worried about a weasel problem my apartment's been having recently, but it's definitely going to be taken care of." And with that, Sakura bid Shizune goodnight, and walked out the door, leaving a mystified med-nin in her wake.

* * *

Sakura hummed cheerfully as she swept around her kitchen, thoughtlessly pulling her short hair into a messy ponytail so she didn't get any strands of hair into the brownie batter. The last time she had made brownies and forgotten to put her hair up, Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, and Sasuke all complained that they were finding pink strands in their brownies. _Not that it stopped them from eating them_, Sakura couldn't help but think almost gloatingly, '_cause I make the best brownies in all of Konoha, believe it!_ She suddenly stood still in the middle of her kitchen. _Did I really just use _Naruto's _catchphrase? Oh god, I must be going senile. Damn Uchihas, this is all their fault._ She shook her head slightly, and went back to assembling her secret ingredients.

Sakura was actually a fairly adept cook, having been forced to learn when she became a member of team seven. Traveling for days on end with three men who had no idea how to use a pan or prevent a meal from burning had eventually worn out on the twelve year-old's nerves, and she took to closely watching her mother prepare meals for her family every day.

Brownies, however, were Sakura's specialty. She had initially begun making them as a form of stress relief, as stuffing herself full of brownies when she was depressed or tired was even better than the ice cream most women used to combat such emotions. Eventually, due to the number of stress filled days Sakura had each year (with a smut-reading, lazy jounin for a teacher, and a hyper troublemaker and stoic young man for teammates who wouldn't stop fighting, it was understandable that she had more stressful days than carefree ones), she managed to perfect her brownie-making to an art. Even the toughest of people melted in the face of the chocolate goodness.

When she was done mixing, tasting, stirring, and adding a pinch of this and that, she emptied all the batter into a pan, set it in the oven, and ambled out into her living room to lounge on her battered blue couch, looking towards having a few minutes of relaxation. Unfortunately for Sakura, it was not meant to be, for as soon as she flopped down on the couch, her eyes slipping blissfully shut, something landed on her head.

Something extremely large, and tremendously heavy.

She let out a horrified yelp, and leapt off the couch. Sakura's reflexes kicked in, and she immediately shot her hand out to grab whatever it was that was currently on her head. Before she could get a hold on it, the weight on her head lifted, and she found herself looking into the red eyes of an abnormally large hawk, which was haughtily looking at her from its perch on her couch.

She wasn't sure exactly what type of hawk it was, but it had majestically colored feathers of varying reds, as well as ones of gold and amber. Its talons were so sharp that she eyed them rather nervously, but then again, the curved beak with a brown band of color running horizontal across it looked rather lethal as well. Sakura found herself at a loss of what to do. Just how in the world did a bird that big get in her house anyways? And an even better question, how the hell did she get it _out_ of her house? She really didn't want to kill something so striking, so proud, so—

"My summoner, Uchiha Itachi, has requested you send a reply to the demands made of you yesterday in the evening."

Sakura gaped at the hawk wordlessly, and then sadistically wondered if hawk tasted better fried or grilled.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I appreciate any helpful tips, constructive criticism, or just nice reviews ;-)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine. Darn. **

* * *

Striking green eyes blazed with fury as they stared at the summon that had intruded into the apartment. How dare he? How _dare_ that Uchiha send his carrier pigeon to interrogate her for an answer? Didn't he have enough patience to wait for her to reply on her own time and of her own choice? She wasn't one of his damn underlings or servants, he couldn't just push her into doing things she didn't want to. Ooh, if she wasn't so supportive of humane treatment of animals, Itachi would be receiving an answer in the form of a seasoned, lemon-pepper broiled bird.

The hawk in question, currently, was staring blankly around at her modest apartment room, looking with something akin to disdain at her second-hand furniture and the slightly ragged carpeting on her floor. Sakura bristled, a bit disbelieving that a _hawk _of all things was being a décor critic of her living room. Sure, it was probably used to the luxuriously furnished and elegantly designed Uchiha houses, but it didn't have to look at her apartment like it was a committing a felony just by existing. She lived on a chunin's meager income, for goodness' sake.

She raised an eyebrow, and cleared her throat softly to catch the bird's attention. She tried to be polite, her mouth straining uncomfortably as she forced a semi-pleasant smile on her face. After all, it wasn't the summon's fault his master was such an annoying prick. "Look, er…"

"Masaru."

Sakura blinked at him, confused. The hawk's crimson eyes focused on her, his gravelly voice sounding in the room a moment later.

"Masaru. It is my proper name."

Sakura gave an inward roll of her eyes. Of course, only an egotistical Uchiha would give his summon a name meaning _victory_. She attempted another awkward smile, saying, "Oh. Okay, Masaru, um, could you just give your master a message for me?"

The multi-colored hawk watched her expectantly.

Sakura's smile suddenly turned into a rather deadly one. "Tell him that he'll have his answer by the end of today, but that I'll send it when _I_ choose to do so. He can take his whole you-will-do-what-I-want-because-I'm-Itachi routine and shove it. You can also tell him that if he bothers me like this again, I'll be forced to get creative with my surgical tools in places better left unspoken of the next time I see him. Got it?"

"You wish me to speak such things to Itachi-sama?"

"Yup. It's about time somehow told him how annoying he is."

Masaru eyed her with a look of dislike, most likely due to her disrespectful words to Itachi. Sakura really had to say that she had never met a more prim or withdrawn summon. Or such a violent one. The hawk looked like he'd enjoy pecking her face off right now. Oh well, like father like son. Or in this instance, like summoner like summon.

In any case, Masaru inclined his regal head in a slight nod, and turned around sharply on top of the couch where he was perched. Sakura looked on as he spread his wings out, amazed at the good five feet each wing must have measured, and then leapt towards her living room window. She leaned forwards to watch him, interested in how such a large animal was going to squeeze itself through her fairly small window. Her question was answered when he tucked his wings in right before hitting the opening, compacting himself, and then spreading them once again when he had all of the space outside to use. Sakura softly padded over to the window, watching him glide off, and admiring his grace. Masaru and Itachi really were alike in many ways, she thought absently, particularly in their beauty and flawless movements. _And in their inherent ability to annoy the heck out of me. _She added in sourly. Before Sakura could reprimand her treacherous mind for these indiscretions, she was woken from her reverie by a burning smell.

For a split second she wondered where it was coming from, before she remembered the brownies that she had left unchecked in the oven for the time she had been occupied with Itachi's summon. She sucked in a horrified breath and essentially made it in record time to the kitchen, turning the oven off quickly and praying for her dessert to be unscathed.

Unfortunately, Sakura saw with despair of the deepest kind, her brownies were now a charcoal color, instead of the rich, moist brown they should have been. They were clealy beyond saving. All of the medical knowledge in the world couldn't have rescued them now. Mournfully, almost as in a funeral procession, she trudged her way over to the garbage can, dumped her ruined dessert into it, and slammed her oven door shut on the way out of the kitchen. Damn Itachi. If he hadn't distracted her with the damn bird, she'd be enjoying what was equivalent to heaven for depressed women right now. Now she was without chocolate, without junk food, and her mind was once again busy with thoughts of Itachi and the mess Sasuke and Naruto had gotten her into.

Sakura, for the second time that night, flopped down on her couch, covering her eyes wearily with a hand. Upon doing so, she felt a small piece of something fuzzy float down on her appendage, tickling it slightly. Curiously, she lifted her hand off her face, examining what had fallen on her. It appeared to be…stuffing. But, why in the world would stuffing be falling down from the ceiling? Unless…Sakura froze as a horrifying thought occurred to her. Slowly, she climbed onto her knees, looking on the top of the couch where Masaharu had been perched. And sure enough, there were six deep puncture marks exactly where he had been, and other tears and rips from where he had taken off from. She stared at the spot with an eerily calm look on her face. Because as far as Sakura was concerned, she had had it with Uchiha Itachi.

_First he blackmails me and asks me on a date. Then he sends the damn chicken to come and snootily ask me for a reply, ruining my nap, my precious brownies, and my couch in the process. Just who the hell told him this was the way to a girl's heart? Emotionally stunted bastard. Well, congratulations Uchiha, you've officially succeeded in pissing me off_. Sakura's thoughts, obviously, were none too pleasant at this moment. The solution was obvious. All she had to do was go on this stupid, ridiculous, foolish, waste-of-time, utterly dumb, _thing_ (she couldn't even bring herself to think the word) with him, and then tell him to never darken her doorway again. Or something of that nature.

Newly determined, Sakura aggressively rolled off of the couch, stomped over to where a small pad of paper was sitting on a dusty bookshelf, and snatched a pencil off the coffee table. Her first attempt at writing a reply to him ended in failure: she was shaking with so much anger and disgust that she held the pencil a tad too hard, causing it to be broken into little bits of dust. She solved this problem in the second attempt by using a pen, but accidentally tore the paper when she slammed the tip of the pen into the sheet of paper and started violently dragging across the sheet while trying to write. At this point, Sakura was starting to get aggravated. _Does everything even remotely connected to this man cause misfortune to befall me? Crap, I'm probably gonna die on this date if that's how it is. _A disgruntled noise came from her lips when she once again stomped over to retrieve another piece of paper, and tried again to formulate a response to Itachi. _Third time's the charm_, she grumbled to herself.

After many tiring minutes of crossing out various sentences, cursing at the paper, Itachi, and herself, and nearly crying in frustration, Sakura felt that she'd written a satisfying reply. Now she just had to find a way to make sure it got to him before the day was up, for it was already approaching eight, and if she didn't answer within the time limit he'd given her she had a feeling he would come to her home in person. And that was truly the last thing she wanted.

She looked around the room for inspiration, and then paused when her eyes fell on the newly-made tears in her furniture. A grin made its way onto her heart-shaped face. Ah. Inspiration. She bit into her thumb hard enough to draw blood, and expertly formed the hand seals that her shishou had taught to her two years ago.

A billowing cloud abruptly appeared in front of her, and when it cleared, Sakura smiled with vindictive pleasure. For in front of her sat the most repulsive, slimiest slug out of all of Tsunade's slug summons. She'd appropriately named her Nura-chan*, and was quite fond of the little slug, for despite her appearance, she was a sweet little thing.

Nura's beady little eyes peered up at Sakura, who patted her bulbous head gently. Nura made a squelching noise on Sakura's coffee table when she shifted a little, raising her head up higher so she could look at Sakura better. "Yes, what did you need of me, mistress?"

Sakura smiled at her, and pulled out her note for the demon, telling her summon, "I need you to deliver a note to someone for me, Nura-chan, please. Would you mind doing this?"

The little slug good-naturedly agreed to the task, questioning her mistress, "Sakura, who am I delivering it to? Did you need me to do anything in particular when I present it to them?" Nura became a little apprehensive when she saw the sudden, wicked look that appeared on her summoner's face.

"As a matter of fact, Nura-chan, I _do_ need you to do something special for me. You see, Uchiha Itachi is the one you must give this to, alright? You remember how to find Sasuke-kun's house, don't you? Anyways, when you get there, no matter where the bast-er, man is, I want you to land right on his head. If you could get a little extra slime on him too, that would definitely be a good thing."

Nura bobbed her head to show she would do as asked, but inwardly hoped Uchiha-san didn't carry salt around with him. She didn't think he'd be over appreciative of having a slimy, dirty slug dropped on him. Maybe he'd even squish her.

Sakura petted Nura again happily, then tied the note onto her loosely. Nura told her softly, "I will return soon, Sakura." After hearing Sakura's hearty words of thanks, the petite slug vanished in another puff of smoke.

* * *

At the same time Sakura was having her animal and letter dilemmas, Itachi was sitting down to dinner with his parents and younger brother in the Uchiha compound. He had sent Masaharu to secure her reply only minutes before, but had been incapable of waiting for his return due to his mother's sweet voice calling him for dinner. So, he was now sitting at the dining table, with Sasuke seated next to him. For some reason, his foolish younger brother was currently casting dark looks at him, and seemed to be eyeing his steak knife with a rather contemplative look…ah. Sakura must have communicated the previous night's happenings with his brother and the blond loudmouth. He merely hoped Sasuke could hold off on the murder attempts until after the meal, as he had no desire to distress his Okaa-san by causing bodily harm to Sasuke in front of her when his foolish brother attacked.

The Uchiha family was silent for a moment as Mikoto passed out the food and went to the kitchen a few times to retrieve napkins and condiments. When she finally seated herself next to Fugaku, she smiled invitingly at her two silent sons.

In the worried and inquiring tone that only a mother could achieve, she asked, "Itachi, Sasuke-chan, what have you two been up to recently? I feel like you're always away lately…"

Itachi warmly looked at his mother with a slight smile, replying, "Ah. Forgive me, Okaa-san, but I have been busy with preparing the security for the jounin exam that is occurring here soon." From the corner of his eye, he noticed Sasuke pale a little at the mention of the exam. With a secret smirk, he added, "I'm sure Sasuke has been up to much more interesting things than I as of late, though."

Sasuke shot him a vicious glare out of the corner of his eye, as Fugaku's deep voice rumbled, "Sasuke, have you been informed if you have been nominated for participation in the exam yet?"

Valiantly ignoring the knowing look Itachi was wearing, Sasuke nervously stabbed a piece of beef on his plate. "No, Otou-san, Kakashi-sensei didn't mention anything to us."

Mikoto, misinterpreting the nervous look on Sasuke's face, reassured him, "Don't worry about it, Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei is a perceptive man, I'm sure he's seen how hard you, Naruto-kun, and Sakura-chan have been working to improve in the last year. I know your efforts will pay off in the end." Fugaku voiced his agreement, though Sasuke could see the slight disappointment in his eyes.

In an effort to turn the conversation away from him and topics that were hazardous to him, Sasuke informed his mother, after a smug look in Itachi's direction, "Kaa-chan, did Itachi mention that he's going on a date?"

To Sasuke's dismay, his tattling to his mother hardly disturbed Itachi, who kept on steadily eating his food without looking up. Itachi inwardly laughed slightly at his younger brother's idiocy, as if such a trivial attempt at revenge could ruffle him. This reaction was completely different from his mother and father's, however.

Mikoto actually let out a joyous exclamation, and Fugaku wrinkled his brow in surprise.

Mikoto was beaming at her eldest son, ecstatic that he was finally showing an interest in someone. She did so detest seeing him without a companion in life, someone who he could confide or find comfort in. "Itachi! You never said anything! Who is it, dear?"

Itachi looked up at his mother, almost bemused by her exuberant reaction. "It is Sakura, Okaa-san."

Mikoto's eyes lit up even further, causing all three males of her family to roll their eyes. It was no secret that Mikoto adored Sakura, having never had a daughter of her own but longing for one, and had plotted for years to get her into the family somehow.

Fugaku seemed to approve, commenting to Itachi, "She is indeed a fine choice, son. One of the legendary Sannin's pupils, and a medic-nin well respected even outside of Konoha. If you so choose to court this girl, your mother and I hold no objections."

Sasuke was quick to input his own thoughts on the matter, saying rapidly, "Kaa-chan, Otou-san, isn't it kind of odd though? Isn't Sakura too young? After all, she's only sixteen, and nii-san is already twenty-one this year."

Itachi raised an eyebrow at Sasuke's eager words. _Nice try, foolish little brother_. "Actually, it is more of a platonic desire for her company, Otou-san, Okaa-san. I currently have no further intentions towards Sakura."

Sasuke opened his mouth again, but was interrupted by the arrival of Masaru appearing next to Itachi suddenly.

Seeing Mikoto's disapproving look at the arrival of a summon during dinner, Itachi swiftly rose, allowing Masaru to jump up to perch on his shoulder, saying softly, "Please excuse me, Okaa-san. I will return in a moment."

Itachi headed out of the dining room and upstairs into his bedroom. Masaru flapped off of Itachi's shoulder and onto the edge of his bed, unblinking red eyes staring up at him.

"Masaru, what was her reply?"

The great hawk shifted on his bed in a nervous and uncomfortable manner, puzzling Itachi. Just what had Sakura said that caused his summon to behave in such a manner? Knowing Sakura, it had probably been most opinionated and…outraged. Itachi received an answer to his question when Masaru reluctantly opened his beak and relayed the message he had been asked to pass on.

Itachi's dark, obsidian eyed flashed with amusement when he heard Sakura's…disgruntled words for him come out of his summon's mouth. This was part of what drew him to her so much. Her uninhibited ways when she was with him, her willingness to speak her mind without fear, her refusal to treat Itachi as something other than just another human being. He had risen quickly through the ranks from a young age, achieving great respect and universal fear of his name, but respect and fear, even from people you command, have a tendency to hold most people off at arm's length. That had not been so with Sakura, however. Every time he had spoken with her in the past, it had intrigued him, had been a novelty for him. And now, years later from their first meeting, he was free to explore that novelty further. He had been quick to snap up the opportunity when it was presented to him, though, ironically enough, the chance had been given to him by Sakura herself, and her thoughtless teammates.

He distractedly dismissed Masaru, thanking him and then releasing his summon. Itachi smoothly slid down to sit on the floor next to his bed, leaning his back against it and closing his eyes, deep in thought. Truthfully, there were many less troublesome girls out there to pursue than Sakura, if he chose to do so. Though it would only be a small hindrance to his plans, he would face the combined wrath of the Copy Ninja, Sasuke, and Naruto-kun if he decided to intrude on the life of their precious pink-haired teammate. Would satisfying his curiosity about her be worth it?

Squelch. Itachi blinked, as out of nowhere he felt something soft, wet, and slimy sliding down his hair and forehead. Curiously reaching up to his head, he grabbed something round and squishy. Upon inspection of what was in his hand, he realized that it was a small slug, which was quivering a bit in fear. Itachi narrowed his eyes, as weren't slugs the signature summon of both the Hokage and her apprentice? His gaze found a small, crumpled piece of paper tied on the miniature slug, and he took on a look of satisfaction. He directed his attention towards the shaking slug, asking it, "May I?"

The summon nodded its head quickly, and Itachi reached out his pale hands to undo the note from its back. A quick look over the letter caused his lips to twitch slightly. Oh, indeed, she was definitely worth it. This little girl was far too amusing to be allowed to slip away. He flipped the note over, his elegant handwriting quickly filling up the blank space on the back, and retied it to the summon. "Take this back to your mistress for me, would you?"

The slug squeaked out an agreement, then vanished in a puff of smoke. With a sigh, Itachi stood up and undid his ponytail, allowing his ebony hair to fall loosely around his mid-back. He raked his hands through it in an attempt to remove the congealing sludge left over from the slug, reminding himself to avoid getting on her bad side too often, if this was going to be his punishment each time.

* * *

Sakura was already curled up in bed with a medical textbook when Nura reappeared. She felt mildly guilty when she saw the shaken look on her slug's face—Uchiha Itachi had that effect on most people. She inquired gently, "How'd it go, Nura-chan?"

"He wrote a reply to you, mistress."

Sakura drew her summon closer and removed the paper from her back.

"Am I free to leave now, Sakura?"

"Mm-hmm, thanks for your hard work."

Her summon disappeared once again, and Sakura unfolded the paper. She turned it over in her hands, noting with displeasure the vast difference of Itachi's flawless writing when compared with what Naruto called her 'doctor's handwriting', (meaning that as most doctors were prone to having illegible writing, so did she. Sakura had punched him hard for that one). Her eyes grew wide in surprise as she scanned what he had written. Self-confident, smug, jerk!

For on the front side of the paper was her reply:

_Uchiha—_

_I accept, even though being forced to do this could hardly be called acceptance, so I use the term loosely. You can choose the time and place. I also reserve the right to punch you through a tree if I find this date as being an utter waste of my valuable time. _

The reverse side of the paper held the words:

_Sakura, you were free to refuse or accept, you are hardly being forced into anything. However, as you have graciously chosen to comply with my request, I will retrieve you tomorrow at seven. As to your other demand, I assure you that our evening will suitably be to your liking—your violent threats are appreciated but unnecessary. _

* * *

**Hey! I'm probably going to be wrapping this up in the next chapter, as this story was primarily me trying to test writing ItaSaku. It was fun though :-). If enough people wanted it, I might write a prequel or sequel or whatnot later on. Anyways, next chapter will be their date at last! I appreciate constructive criticism, helpful tips, or happy comments so please leave a review ^_^. **

***Sakura's slug is named "Nura" because "nura-nura" in Japanese is like a squelching, slimey sound. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine. At all. **

****NOTE: Alrighty, before I get tomatoes and eggs and lettuce thrown at me, I'll get down on my knees and beg forgiveness for not updating this quickly. I'll also beg forgiveness for the fact that the date isn't in this chapter T.T I'm so so sorry, I know I said it was. I've been so incredibly busy with schoolwork, that I didn't have much time to work on this chappie. I didn't really want to rush writing the date, it probably would've turned out incredibly lame if I had. I had two choices: make people wait a while longer for me to update, or at least give my wonderful, lovely readers something while I try and hurry up with my other stuff. Thank you so much for your patience, hopefully I'll have the final chapter out in a few days!****

* * *

Sakura woke up at five in the morning the following day to the noisy ringing of her alarm clock, as her hospital shift lasted from six in the morning until five in the afternoon. Needless to say, she had experienced a near-sleepless night. Counting sheep, drinking warm milk, pacing around her apartment, even attempting to knock herself out with a certain pressure point (all that had given her was a raging headache) had all ended in complete failure. She had briefly considered sleeping pills, but decided against it. Sakura didn't react overly well to drugs—they left her feeling extremely loopy and insane hours after taking them. Thus, she had been reduced to tossing and turning restlessly, drifting in and out of slumber, her mind dwelling on the tragedy that would be happening to her at seven o'clock tonight.

Slowly sitting up in her jumbled nest of blankets, sheets, and pillows, she yawned loudly, rubbing at her red eyes that felt like they were in danger of drooping at any second. Hell, she wasn't even sure exactly why she was so worked up about this date. She shouldn't be bothered to the point of losing so much sleep over it. After all, it wasn't like she hadn't gone out with guys numerous times before!

She sighed in defeat. All right, so that was a lie. The downfall to having the renowned Copy Ninja as a teacher, and a member of the feared Uchiha clan and an insanely strong demon container as teammates was that other males tended to be rather…hesitant about approaching her for reasons outside the realm of friendship. She winced at one particularly sharp memory involving Sasuke's Sharingan and a fellow medic-nin that had shown some interest in her once. For some reason, after one attempted dinner date, the man had decided to change his profession to a baker and moved to Suna for the rest of his days. Though Sasuke swore up and down he didn't know a thing about it, he was never able to come up with a suitable alibi for that incident. Sakura didn't even want to _think_ about some other nasty events relating to boyfriends that had Naruto and Kaka-sensei's styles written all over them. Though it was endearing at times, their mindset of Sakura-is-ours-don't-touch-her-bastards did tend to get tiresome rather quickly.

Oh well. At least it was comforting to know that if they tried anything with Itachi, he would wipe the floor with them. Sakura allowed an entertained smile to come to her face as she contemplated the lovely visual imagery. Not that she really _wanted_ to go on anything resembling a date with the man, but it would indeed be nice to have Naruto and Sasuke learn a lesson or two about interfering with her love life, since her fists didn't seem to have driven the message into their thick skulls yet.

Uchiha Itachi. That seemed to be the whole problem with this situation. It wasn't so much the prospect of being blackmailed into going on a date, but rather the person doing the blackmailing. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Sakura didn't appreciate being coerced into anything, no matter who was doing it. And Itachi didn't appear to be a…_dreadful_ man to date as far as such things go. He was far more handsome and refined than should be allowed, he wasn't the least bit dull or uninteresting, and he held an intellect equal, if not superior, to hers. His manners were also unparalleled, owing to Mikoto-san's persistence in instilling good behavior in her two sons. Furthermore, there was the plus side of having known him, even if it was at a distance, for a considerable number of years. Compared with the few men she had interacted with romantically, she should have been jumping at this chance to be involved with him. Sakura was not so pigheaded that she couldn't swallow her pride enough to admit to all of that.

But still, there was just something about that man that rubbed her the wrong way. To put it simply, he irked her. In the past when she had come into contact with him (and that had been often, due to the fact that he was Sasuke's older brother, and the amount of times she and Naruto had been over for dinner had been many over the years), he seemed to enjoy ruffling her feathers more than was healthy. And lately she had been getting a weird type of feeling whenever he looked at her or took the time to converse with her. Sakura chalked it up to him being a daunting, demonic bastard. There was also the drawback of Itachi having the unfortunate Uchiha trait of being emotionless. Or at least appearing to be so. She could never decipher what the maddening Uchiha was thinking. At any rate, she was confidently ready to deal with whatever the Uchiha threw at her tonight. She sure as hell wouldn't back down from him now, wouldn't give him the satisfaction of thinking she was afraid of him.

Sakura shook her head briefly, trying to clear her head of troublesome thoughts, and rolled out of her bed, glancing at the heavenly matress longingly as she stretched her weary limbs out like a cat. Just her luck, she was finally beginning to feel sleepy when she had to report for work in an hour. If she fell asleep on Uchiha tonight, she could hardly be held responsible for it. After all, she fully blamed him for bouncing around in her head all night and keeping her from having a blissful sleep. She intended to inform him of this when she saw him as well.

Sakura dragged her feet into the small bathroom that was connected to her bedroom, turning on the rusty faucet when she reached the sink. Cupping her hands, she filled them with the clear water pouring out and splashed it on her face, the frigidness of it snapping her out of her sleepiness. She grabbed a hand towel lying to the side, mopping the wetness from her face, and raised her eyes to check her reflection in the mirror.

Sakura's blood-curling scream echoed throughout her apartment.

Dammit, she looked like something out of a horror movie! With zombies! Or vampires!

Sakura wasn't a vain girl, and she didn't have the confidence about her looks like Ino did, but she still tried to be presentable and wary about her appearance. But this was another story. Her eyes weren't just red, but bloodshot; her hair now resembled a porcupine's back, as it stuck out haphazardly in every direction; and her usually unblemished skin had rash marks from where she had rubbed it against her pillow all night while trying to find a comfortable spot. Such were the consequences of getting scarce amounts of beauty sleep.

"CURSE YOU UCHIHA!"

And that was how Itachi earned another black mark against him without even being aware of it.

* * *

After thirty grueling minutes of frantically trying to untangle the snarls that had woven their way into her hair, rub moisturizer on her face to rid it of the redness, and shoving on her regular outfit and doctor's coat while hopping around on one foot looking for breakfast in the kitchen, Sakura had never been so glad to get out of her apartment. She pulled her keys out, shoving the key in the door lock and turning it, and then pocketed them again. She bounced her way down the stairs lightly, removing her shinobi headband from her pocket and expertly tying it around the top of her head, using it to push her unruly pink locks back.

When she made it out of the complex and began making her way to the hospital, the first rays of sunshine were beginning to cover Konoha with a glowing light. The streets were relatively empty because of what time it was, but Sakura could see a few shops containing the hurried movements of employees getting the store ready for the day. A very few civilians were out and about, jogging or taking an early morning walk. Some appeared to be cheerfully strolling off to a job, eager to get through the day so that they could come home that much sooner. Sakura allowed a content smile to touch her rosy lips as she observed the peaceful scene in her hometown, all troubling thoughts slipping from her mind unnoticed. Whenever she needed reminding of why she was a kunoichi, whenever she found the stress of dealing with other shinobi or missions or anything just too much, all she had to do was observe happiness like this. It really helped improve one's outlook on the trying job of being a tool of the village.

_Pity Naruto and Sasuke never get up this early unless they can help it, those lazy bums._ Sakura thought ruefully. _They could use some reminding that being a shinobi entails more than outdoing each other in contests of 'who has the coolest new jutsu'._

After traveling another few blocks, Sakura turned her attention to the gigantic medical center coming into her line of sight. Resolutely, she pushed all remaining thoughts of this coming evening to the back of her head, allowing Inner Sakura to open a trunk and shove the thoughts inside, put chains around it, nail it shut, glue warning signs to it, and then push it into a closet where it would remain for the rest of the day. She wouldn't allow herself to be so unprofessional as to worry about personal matters when she had important duties to attend to. When she walked through those doors, she wouldn't be Sakura, the sixteen year old girl childishly fretting about a date. She would become Haruno-san, respected medic-nin and third in command at the hospital (obviously, Tsunade-shishou and Shizune-nee-san were first and second, respectively).

When she entered the lobby of the hospital, she relaxed at the familiar smell of disinfectant and hospital food floating through the air. She sent a polite nod towards the receptionist at the front desk absentmindedly, already noticing the fairly large amount of hustle and bustle going on, with doctors and nurses rushing around, people getting into elevators, going up stairs, and in and out of rooms. Though the streets of Konoha may sleep, the hospital usually was busy almost all the time, without fail.

Intending to make her way to her office to get her list of patients she would be working on today, she was stopped when a young nurse that was employed under her came running up to her, a relieved look on her face.

Sakura gave her a cheerful greeting, saying, "Good morning, Maya-san. Did you need me for something?"

The nurse smiled briefly, telling Sakura in a rapid pace, "Haruno-san! I'm so glad you're already here, it's been a madhouse this morning, like you wouldn't believe. A bunch of genin had an early morning training accident, so it kept us busy for a while. Nothing serious, don't worry. Just some kids with some rotten aim with shuriken. But, I took the liberty of getting your patient list for the day and everything, so—"

Sakura nodded her head, taking the clipboard from the nurse and cutting her rambling off. "Thank you so much, Maya-san, I appreciate it. I'm going to go start on these, so I'll see you later, alright?"

The other girl nodded eagerly, and with a polite goodbye sped off to attend to her other duties. Sakura looked at her list, deciding to pay a visit to one of her patients that was in rehabilitation after getting all of the bones in her arm crushed. That was a nasty case, it had taken months of steady healing and a lot of work to get to this point. Steeling herself for a long day, Sakura headed down one of the white corridors to do her job.

* * *

It was about noon when Sakura heard it. The loud, obnoxious voice that she would certainly recognize anywhere. Bidding her patient, a child that had come in with a sprained ankle that had been easily fixed, and her relieved mother goodbye she strode out of the room in the direction of Naruto's voice. She wiped off the sweat that had accumulated on her forehead wearily, wishing she could take a break for a few minutes instead of being forced to deal with her troublesome teammates.

She walked into the lobby, almost instantly finding Naruto in the crowd next to the reception desk, a disgruntled looking Sasuke standing next to him. Sakura watched in amusement as Naruto whined grumpily to the receptionist, "Whaddya mean we can't see Sakura-chan right now! It's already lunch time, she's gotta have time to get some ramen with me an' the teme!"

The receptionist pinched the bridge of her nose, as if praying for patience. "Sir, I'm afraid Haruno-san is in the middle of looking after her patients right now. I'm not sure when she'll be—"

Sakura decided to save the poor woman from any more of Naruto's whining. She knew how annoying and nerve-jerking it could get after constantly being exposed to it.

"It's okay, I'm here. Naruto, Sasuke-kun, what in the world do you think you're doing here, huh?"

The lady behind the desk gave Sakura a perceptible look of relief and thanks for being saved from interrogation by the loud blonde. Naruto grinned in boyish delight, dragging Sasuke towards where she was standing.

"Yo, Sakura-chaaan! It's been so long since we saw you last!"

Sasuke lifted a single hand and smacked Naruto over the head. "Dobe, we were with her yesterday."

"Shut it, teme! You don't love Sakura-chan like me, emotionless bastard!"

"She's important to me too, idiot, I just don't go around shouting it in the ear of every random person I meet."

"I don't tell everyone I meet! Sakura-chan, tell him—"

Their pointless squabbling was immediately cut off as Sakura seized both of her friends by the scruff of their shirts and started dragging them away from the lobby and towards the elevator. She ignored their complaints and threats, still holding them captive as she waited for the silver doors of the lift to open. When they finally did so, she tossed her two pain-in-the-butts into the small area and entered, pushing the button for the third floor rather aggressively. Sasuke and Naruto were silent, knowing better than to annoy her when she was in one of her violent moods.

After a few seconds, the doors of the elevator gave a soft bing and slid open again, and Sakura led the way to her office. Upon reaching it, she unlocked it quickly, shoved open the door, and allowed the other two to obediently walk in. Ah, sometimes having the ability to frighten her friends came in handy.

She closed the door behind them after she entered, both of her boys flinching simultaneously at the sound. She leaned up against the door, staring at them unblinkingly.

"Explain. I've told you two countless times not to bother me while I'm at work, unless one of you is suffering from something potentially fatal."

Naruto hopped up on her desk, sitting crossed legged on it and adopting an innocent look. "Neh, Sakura-chan, we just came to ask you something."

She surveyed the two of them with curiosity. "…What is it?"

Sasuke folded his arms like a petulant child, his cool eyes looking at her grumpily. "Sakura, this morning I heard Itachi telling my mother he was going to be out late tonight. You wouldn't happen to be the reason for that, right?"

Damn. Sakura shifted uneasily avoiding the gazes of her friends. She said nothing, only massaged the bridge of her nose. She could just _feel_ the headache coming on. One that would require painkillers. And possibly beating her teammates up. Though she was silent, Naruto and Sasuke seemed to take it as confirmation of their worst fears.

"Sakura-chan, it's-it's true?"

"I told you so, dobe."

"I don't really wanna get in trouble, but still, the ROBOT? The DEMON? What the hell were you thinking?"

"She wasn't, obviously."

Sakura snapped at that, enough was enough. "I'm doing this for all our sakes, idiots! Remember? We've been over this before! Anyways, do you think I want to?"

The boys fell silent at that, their conflicting feelings written across their faces. On one hand, they could refuse to allow Sakura to go on the date this evening. That would mean saving her from the nefarious schemes of the demon, but would also result in their asses being served to them by a steaming mad Hokage. On the other hand, they could give their acceptance of her doing this, but that would mean letting someone else other than themselves spend time with her. And a male, at that. And it just had to be Sasuke's bastard older brother, who they had all sworn was the evilest thing to come along since Kakashi's bell test.

Decisions, decisions.

Sakura's face became gentle, allowing the angry wrinkles on her brow to disappear when she noticed how dejected they seemed to be. "Guys, it's not that big a deal. He's coming at seven, we'll probably eat or something, talk, take a walk. You know, normal date-ish stuff. I'll be back home early, and we'll never speak of this ordeal again, alright?"

She received two sullen stares in reply. Naruto was the first to speak up.

He asked in a hesitant tone, "But, Sakura-chan, what if you, er, I dunno, end up getting attached to the demon bastard?"

Sasuke threw in his agreement. "He's just getting his hormones in apparently, Sakura, who knows how…" Sasuke paused, looking ill. "…seductive and charming he might be, though it's highly unlikely?"

She gaped at them in astonishment, marveling at their foolishness. "It's ONE date! _One_. It's not a declaration of love, it's not an engagement, and if you honestly think I'm the kind of girl who loses her head over a guy if they're suave and a smooth-talker, you won't be leaving this hospital for a _week_ after I'm through with you!"

Naruto laughed nervously, trying to appease her. "Heh, that's really not what we're implying, Sakura, we're just worried."

Sasuke nodded along, his bangs swishing from side to side as he did. "Teenage girls lose their rational thinking capabilities on dates. Kunoichi are no exception. We're trying to protect your honor."

By this point, Sakura was trying to decide between throwing them out her window or throwing them out the door. After all, she _did_ have to get back to work, and she was getting a little tired of all this interrogation. The window would injure and humiliate them more, but then again, they did have good intentions, she supposed. The door it was, then.

"Out."

"But, Sakura-chan!"

"Now."

Naruto opened his mouth, ready to argue despite the dangerous look gleaming in Sakura's green eyes. However, he was prevented from saying anything when the dark-haired boy next to him slapped a hand over his mouth, cutting off the sound. Sasuke was wearing a rather odd look on his visage.

"Let's go, idiot." Sasuke dragged Naruto past Sakura, who was looking surprised that they were leaving without a fight. Usually these sorts of squabbles ended up with Sasuke and Naruto being tossed out on their bottoms with plenty of bruises to spare.

Naruto let out a muffled sound, trying to pry Sasuke's hand off his face. "Mmph, Sakmph-chmph, domt goma dumf! Themr uffer oftions! Dmmut, eme, fet offme!" (Translation: Wait! Sakura-chan! Don't go on the date! There are other options! Dammit, teme, get off me!)

Sakura grinned cheekily, waving at them. "I'll just imagine you're wishing me a fond farewell, Naruto."

Sasuke gave a short nod to Sakura on his way out. "We'll see you tomorrow then, Sakura."

"See ya, Sasuke-kun."

And with that, the two left her office, one voluntarily and one very involuntarily. Sakura walked over to her desk, sinking down into the hard chair behind it. She closed her eyes, tipping her head back wearily. At least she wasn't going to have any problems with those two dummies. She reminded herself to thank her Shishou for giving Kaka-sensei a month long mission. Thank goodness for small favors, as she could handle Sasuke and Naruto, but Kakashi was a little harder to deter when he set his mind on something. Knowing Kaka-sensei, he would've scheduled a mission tonight as an excuse for her not to go on the date. She sighed. Maybe she could bribe Naruto and Sasuke to keep their mouths shut about all this when Kaka-sensei returned. After all, she didn't want her overprotective sensei going weasel hunting when he got back. She paused for a moment, visualizing the picture. Hmm…then again, maybe she _would_ let those two shoot their mouths off.

* * *

Sasuke continued to drag his best friend and rival down the hallway, into the elevator, and out the front doors of the hospital, ignoring all of the weird looks they were getting. Naruto wasn't making it any easier, as he was fighting against the chokehold, trying to get back to talk sense into Sakura.

Sasuke's excellent hearing picked up one elderly woman whispering to another, "Is that young blonde man getting kidnapped? Maybe I should call someone?" Sasuke grimaced. Who'd want to kidnap the dobe? He never shut up.

Sasuke let go of Naruto once they were safely out of the hospital, causing the blonde to stumble and gasp for air. He glared at his indifferent friend, who had begun walking away. Regaining his breath, Naruto bounded after him. "What the hell was that, teme? You're just gonna walk away, let Sakura-chan do this thing tonight? What if the date goes well, huh? What if she wants to see him again? What if—"

"I've already thought of all that, dobe. I don't care what Sakura says, I'm not giving my brother the chance to succeed in whatever he wants with her. Itachi doesn't do things like this without good reason." Sasuke said all of this to the outraged blonde next to him, looking thoughtful.

Naruto appeared to be pacified for a second, but then he burst out again, "Then why'd you drag me outta there, dammit! We could've just kidnapped her, taken her somewhere the bastard couldn't find her, screw the consequences!"

Sasuke shook his head, telling him, "That wouldn't work out, Naruto. Itachi has the upper hand as long as he's got this blackmail on us. Sakura'll have to go through with this."

Naruto shot back, "I'm not exactly following, Sasuke-bastard. How're we supposed to save Sakura from your brother's lecherous clutches if we don't stop her? What exactly is the genius plan I really hope you have, eh?"

The Uchiha grinned, a plotting look on his normally stoic face. Naruto looked at him suspiciously, taken aback by the uncharacteristic look on Sasuke's face. "Well, I'm waiting, teme."

"Sabotage."

"Eh?"

"We'll sabotage their date, dobe. Spy on them, foul it up for my brother. That way we're carrying out our end of the bargain, so Itachi will have to keep his end. If Itachi's going to blackmail Sakura, there's no reason he should have a good time with her. I came up with it while we were in Sakura's office. That's why I left so quickly—it's probably better if she didn't know what we're up to, if she thought we weren't going to make a big deal out of it."

A slow, excited smile was growing on Naruto's whiskered face. "And Sakura-chan won't ever want to see your brother again. Maybe she'll even punch him through a tree for giving her a rotten time!" He looked impressed. "Ya know, Sasuke, for being such a goody-two-shoes, rule-abiding Uchiha heir, I'm surprised you actually thought of something this good. I may have misjudged you."

"Hn. We'll need to plan for tonight though."

Naruto scratched his head out of habit, staring up at the sky as they walked. "She said they're meeting at seven, right?"

Sasuke nodded. "I think Itachi's picking her up. I didn't hear him say anything about Sakura coming over tonight to my mother."

"That gives us plenty of time then. We've got seven hours to come up with a good attack strategy," Naruto said confidently. "We'll do it at my place, otherwise your bastard brother might overhear us."

Sasuke voiced his agreement, and the two walked on silently for a little while. After a few blocks of traveling, Naruto's hesitant voice broke them both out of their thoughts.

"Ne, teme, what if Sakura-chan, um, catches on to what we're doing tonight?"

Sasuke snorted. "I think the actual question should be, dobe, what if my bastard brother finds out what we're doing."

Naruto went pale, coughing out a nervous laugh. Both Sasuke and Naruto wondered which one would be worse: having the crap beat out of them by Sakura for interfering, or being subjected to Itachi's skilled ANBU torture methods. Super-enhanced punches that could send one flying through a brick wall effortlessly, or Sharingan hypnotism that could cause mental instability for the rest of one's life? Though they wouldn't ever admit it out loud, hell, they wouldn't even admit to thinking it themselves, Naruto and Sasuke were for once in perfect agreement over something without even knowing it: Sakura and Itachi were like a match made in heaven, as far as violent tendencies went.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I appreciate constructive criticism, helpful tips, or happy comments, so feel free to leave a review! ^_^**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine, okay? It hurts to keep saying it every chapter ^_^

**Note: Yay for the last chapter (and it's nice and long)! Forgive me for the long wait once again, I know it's been greatly anticipated, so I hope it lives up to expectations. I just want to say a huge, giant thanks for everyone who took the time to read this little story. It made me so incredibly happy to see everyone's enthusiasm and read such encouraging words…I hope to see you all again on future fics! **

* * *

Konoha in the evening. Surely there was nothing as picturesque, nor as wordlessly beautiful. The weather was cool and breezy, which was odd, but not certainly unwelcome, for late September. A quaint flock of birds lazily soaring through the color-filled heavens, and families embracing after a day of separation due to work and school and settling down to a peaceful dinner. Children were called in from their vigorous playing and laughter outside, while a tabby cat stretched happily on the bakery roof from where it was basking in the warmth of the sunshine beaming down in twinkling rays of gold. The streets were swallowed with the bodies of Konoha citizens enthusiastically greeting and conversing, and a pink-haired kunoichi let out a wild scream of frustration as she contemplated employing a fireball jutsu on her unsatisfying collection of clothes. Let it be officially stated that Sakura had a strange fixation of physically destroying anything that stood in her way.

For while the rest of Konoha was genuinely enjoying the beautiful time of sundown, Sakura was frantically attempting to throw together a passable outfit for the date which was occurring in less than twenty minutes. And avoid throwing up. And keep reminding herself of her resolve to see this through, for she was on the verge of running away and becoming a missing-nin. For once she actually mourned the fact that not many people shared Kakashi-sensei's chronic lateness. In this instance, it would certainly be a welcome thing.

She glared at her room, now smothered in random clothing pieces that were completely unsuited to her current needs. _Why the heck is it so hard to get ready for one, measly date? _Sakura grumbled to herself. _I've never had such a problem with it before_. Sakura briefly considered going to Ino for emergency fashion help, but discarded _that_ idea quickly. After all, she wanted to keep as many people from knowing about what was going on tonight, and if the gossiping Ino found out she might as well have posted it in the newspaper.

Sighing, she picked up a black dress lying in a crumpled mess on the floor from where she had tossed it. She held it up against her body, eyeing her form speculatively in the mirror. Ino had given it to her for her 16th birthday, telling her with a wicked grin that she hoped it would be "put to good use". Che. Whatever _that_ meant. The stupid dress was also extremely skimpy, probably more useful as a shirt than anything else. She shook her head, tossing it aside yet again. After all, it wasn't like she wanted to _seduce_ the Uchiha. No, definitely not. Then again, she wasn't even sure if Itachi _could_ be seduced, what with being a human ice cube and all.

Sakura grabbed another dress that was draped over the back of a chair, blanching in horror when she held it up and looked at her reflection. Why the hell did she even have this dress still? She'd thought she'd donated it to charity long ago. The article of clothing in question was a horribly lime green sundress with a yellow flower pattern printed in rows across it. It had been a gift from Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi a year ago, when she had made chunin. They had declared (with looks on their faces that were _far_ too innocent) that they had thought she would look 'cute' in it. But with the mid-calf length skirt, and the high neck with long, puffy sleeves, it seemed more like they were just trying to drive off men and prevent her from showing any skin. Idiots.

That monstrosity joined the black abomination on the floor in the rejection pile. Sakura glanced around for her clock in desperation, noting that she only had fifteen minutes left. Damn, damn, damn. She was still standing around in her underwear, and she had no doubt that Itachi would be promptly here at seven! Even though Inner Sakura was currently entertaining the thought of answering the door as she was just to see the look on Itachi's face, Sakura ignored her and continued on in her search for an outfit. She swore she didn't know why her inner self could be such a pervert at times. She was worse than the lecherous old patients in the hospital that tried to flirt with the nurses.

She went through another dress, then a skirt and shirt, and a leather ensemble (why did she have that in her closet, of all things?), rediscovering the contents of her wardrobe.

"Makes me look fat."

"Too slinky, must've borrowed that one from Ino at some point."

"What the—? No way in hell!"

"Why do I have a green jumpsuit in here? Oh. Lee's birthday present for me."

"No…not that one…nope…er, maybe…ah!"

And with a triumphant cry, Sakura pounced like a vicious lioness on the hunt. Snatching up the clothes that were emitting a soft, holy glow of success to her eyes, she raced into her bathroom, slamming the door shut. She laid the outfit down on her bathroom counter gingerly, and then proceeded to get ready.

The first to go on were the pants. They were loose and flowing around her legs, reaching to her ankles and colored a pure white. Sakura tugged on them a little to get them all the way up her body to her waist, and poked at her stomach with a frown. She observed it with a critical eye, wondering if it had always stuck out that much. Hmm. Maybe she'd been eating too many brownies lately.

She then picked up the top, sliding it over her head and relishing the feel of the cool silk against her skin. She looked in the mirror, satisfied with what she saw there. The top was a sleeveless Chinese-style one, and aqua in color, which highlighted her skin tones quite flatteringly. It was attractively form-fitting, even though, as Sakura resentfully added in her head, she didn't have much to show off as far as shapes went. Hell, she wasn't asking for a Tsunade-like body, just to look like her sixteen years for once! Inner Sakura chipped in her two cents cheerfully, wondering if she'd grown at all since the age of twelve, but hastily closed her mouth upon sensing Sakura's deadly aura directed her way.

Sakura was by no means plain or stunted in growth, but being surrounded by women like her Shishou and Ino tended to make one have inferiority complexes at times, unfortunately. Oh well. She'd trade beauty for the ability to smash boulders to pieces single handedly any day.

Ignoring her grumpy thoughts, she moved onto her hair, twisting it up into a messy bun and securing it with an elegant clip decorated with white and azure intertwined flowers, something she had purchased at a summer festival long ago. Sakura reluctantly allowed her bangs to fall down around the sides of her face, as she was lacking the forehead protector that usually kept them from getting in her way. She hoped they wouldn't be a nuisance during the evening. She wasn't too optimistic, though, because with the way things had started out already, she was likely to trip and break her neck when her bangs got in her eyes. _Once again, am I going to live through this with my sanity and body parts intact? _

She forewent the makeup and perfume out of habit, as she rarely ever indulged in wearing them. This was mostly due to the shinobi training ingrained in her from when she was young, as allowing things such as identifiable scents or using makeup to make one's face stand out was a potentially fatal mistake in a world where it was best to blend in to one's surroundings.

Sakura started in surprise when her doorbell suddenly went off, sending an echo bouncing through her apartment. She froze, breathing in deeply, trying to prepare herself. She could do this. She'd go out and answer the door with a pleasant and impenetrable face, maturely acting like she could care less about being blackmailed into doing this. Cool, calm, collected. Cool, calm, collected. She repeated this mantra to herself over and over. She turned the knob on her bathroom door, pushing it open and striding out.

Right, she'd be entirely grown up about this entire ordeal when she came face to face with the bastard who had deprived her of her sleep and brownies and reason! _Cool, calm, and collected, dammit_! She reminded herself. Sakura was already scowling with the intensity of a thousand suns as she marched out of her bedroom and through her living room, her course set towards her front door. She wrenched up a look onto her face that was supposed to resemble a smile, but ended up more with her baring her teeth in a feral sort of way.

When she reached the door, she grabbed hold of it, and yanked it open, snarling out, "Hello, Uchi—"

She stopped, her menacing face morphing into one of surprise and confusion. For in front of her stood not the impossible, dark-eyed man that had been recently haunting her thoughts, but instead…

"Izumo-san."

The Hokage's helper nervously smiled, a look of terror still in his eyes from the frightening way Sakura had opened the door. After all, it was well known that the Hokage's apprentice had inherited more than just her medical skills. If she was angry for some reason, it was best not to be within reach of her fists. "A-ah, Haruno-san. Um, forgive me for disturbing you, but I carry a message from Tsunade-sama."

Sakura blinked, getting over her confusion, and now feeling mortified over how she had opened the door. "Oh, well, please tell me then, Izumo-san."

"Y-yes. Ah, you are to report to her office tomorrow at seven thirty in the morning. There you and your assigned teammates will be thoroughly debriefed about your upcoming mission to Suna. I believe you were briefly informed about it a few weeks ago. "

She nodded, saying to the chunin, "Yes, I was. Thank you so much, and have a good night."

Izumo only gave a stuttered out goodnight, then took off running in the opposite direction. Sakura guiltily watched him go—she really needed to learn how to control her anger. She stepped back into her apartment, closing the door slowly. She felt something strangely akin to disappointment flood through her. Her eyes widened. _No, I'm not disappointed that it wasn't Ita—the Uchiha! I'm ticked off that I accidentally used the angry greeting I was saving for the Uchiha on a perfectly innocent man. Yes, that's it._

Sakura was only a few steps from the door when the doorbell rang again. She frowned at it in a puzzled manner. Had Izumo maybe forgotten to tell her part of the message? After all, he'd left in such a hurry only a minute ago. As she made her way towards the front door again, she allowed a gentle, welcoming smile to slip onto her face, determined to make up for the rude greeting she had presented to him last time.

She pulled it open, looking out and cheerfully saying, "Good evening, Izumo-san, I'm really sorry about—"

Wait. Sakura froze in the middle of what she had been saying. Because Izumo sure as hell didn't have obsidian eyes that could look at her in such amusement, wearing a slight smirk on his face. Izumo didn't tower over her by at least a foot, and wasn't garbed in black pants and a black, long-sleeved button-down shirt that opened slightly in the front to reveal a white shirt underneath. And Izumo didn't have dark, silken locks loosely tied back from his face, a few strands framing his patrician features perfectly.

Damn it, she had used the wrong sort of greeting for the wrong man, _again!_

Sakura's mouth had by this point dropped open, her startled orbs rising slowly to meet his shadowy ones.

"Sakura."

"Er, Itachi. Good evening. Um, sorry about the whole name mistake, I was expecting you to be a different person, actually."

Itachi's lips raised to one side, obviously finding humor in being addressed as someone else (alas, it was far too easy to be amused at Sakura's antics), and his low voice told her, "Why, Sakura, I had no idea you were so popular. I would have reserved my date far in advance, had I known—"

Sakura's face felt like it was on fire, her cheeks turning a vibrant pink as she blushed. "Oh, shut up, Uchiha. Shishou just had a message that needed to be delivered to me."

Itachi surveyed her, still, to her displeasure, appearing to be amused. "I see. Are you ready to leave?"

Sakura took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure and get back on equal footing with the smooth bastard in front of her. "In a minute. First, I have some mandatory rules to lay out for you."

"Oh?"

"Yes."

"Pray tell."

Sakura held up a finger. "One: No touching. That includes hugging, handholding, or anything of the like. Any of the above will result in the loss of any and all reproductive abilities. If I'm being forced to do this, there will be no sexual harassment, got it?"

Itachi inclined his head, accepting her terms, before questioning her intently, "And if you ask me?"

That caught Sakura off guard. "Huh?" She ever so eloquently replied.

Itachi's mouth tilted slightly, repeating, "And if you ask me to…touch you?"

Where the hell were all of these taxing comments coming from? Sakura glared at him, retorting, "That won't be happening anytime soon, Uchiha."

"Hn." He only sent a knowing look at her that infuriated Sakura even more. "Any other…rules, I should be made aware of, Sakura?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Number two: I still claim the right to punch you through a tree if you waste my time tonight. And possibly a wall as well, if I feel up to it."

"As I stated before, it will not be necessary."

"Hmph. We'll see." Sakura fidgeted, feeling the need to get out of Itachi's presence for a moment. It was starting to get oppressive and suffocating. At least in her opinion. "Excuse me, I have to get my shoes, and I'll be ready to go. Wait here, please."

Sakura spun around, practically preparing to sprint to the safety of her room. She was actually thinking about locking herself in there and refusing to come out. She was stopped when a pale, long-fingered hand loosely caught her wrist, effectively preventing her from leaving. She looked over her shoulder irritably at the man who currently breaking the no-touching rule. Already. She sent a pointed look towards his grip on her wrist. "Uchiha, I didn't think your attention span was that short. Did you not hear the rules you agreed to?"

He raised an eyebrow at the girl who had all the appearance of a kitten, but was ready to strike out in a moment's notice if displeased. "Ah, but Sakura, our date has not officially started yet. I was under the impression that such things would begin after I had picked you up, and not while still in your apartment."

Sakura looked disgruntled at that, failing to find a valid point to argue with him over what he had just said. He was pretty much right. That damn sneaky genius. Okay, new plan: get the hell out of here as soon as possible in order to avoid anymore touch-involved situations like this one. "Okay, what is it?"

She didn't like that anticipatory gleam in his eye. It looked like he was preparing to bait her with something. She was unpleasantly reminded of the imagery of a cat toying with a helpless mouse before it ate it. Well, there was no way she was going to react to whatever he said next!

Itachi's hand momentarily tightened on her wrist. "Forgive me, Sakura. I did not mention it right away, but…you look rather lovely tonight."

What. The. Hell. What? Just what the hell was his game? Who was this person, and what had he done with the sadistic bastard she had grown up knowing both from experience and Sasuke's many horror stories about him? She was sure her face was heating up again. Stupid involuntary reactions! Stupid Itachi! Sakura jerked her hand from his grasp, biting out a terse "Thank you" and stomped off in the direction of her room in order to retrieve her shoes. Dammit, he was laughing again, she could hear it! She could just _tell_ he was enjoying making her mad, the bastard!

She slammed her closet door in her bedroom open, quickly grabbing a pair of white sandals and her purse, and headed back out, albeit extremely reluctantly. Itachi had never shown so much interest in her before, so why now, of all times? Why was he suddenly provoking her emotions, acting almost teasing and affectionate? Needless to say, Sakura's confusion had reached an all time high.

She met Itachi in the hallway outside her apartment, where he was calmly and patiently leaning against a wall, carefully making sure to avoid eye contact with him. She turned around apprehensively, locking her door, before she faced Itachi. His eyes swept the full length of her body, from head to toe, only once, an unreadable look on his face. Sakura squirmed, the only thing preventing her from punching him was that his gaze didn't linger on any part of her body longer than others. They both began to walk at the same time, and no words were passed between them as they made their way out of the apartment complex.

* * *

Unbeknownst at the time to Itachi and Sakura while they were up in her apartment, an obnoxious Hokage-wannabe and a dark-haired grump were lying in wait outside the complex, cleverly (at least in their eyes) concealed in a large group of clustered bushes. They had been there ever since six-thirty in the evening, preparing for Mission: Rescue Sakura from the Evil Clutches of Sasuke's Bastard Older Brother. Naruto had been the one to come up with the not-so-subtle name, much to Sasuke's dismay. Unfortunately, not much was known about the upcoming date, which prevented the two from actually forming a solid attack plan. In the end, both had decided it was best to make a plan up as they went along.

Sasuke looked over at the teen kneeling in the dirt beside him. "Did you remember to mask your chakra?"

Naruto appeared to be mildly insulted, as he glowered at the Uchiha. "Of course I did. I'm not that stupid, teme. Sakura would detect us in an instant if we didn't. And beat the crap out of us in the next second after finding us. Just make sure _you_ don't slip up."

"Hn. No worries there."

They sat for another moment in silence, warily watching the entrance to the apartments. Naruto shifted impatiently, flinching in pain when a particularly prickly leaf poked him in his hand. He rubbed at it absentmindedly, the skin growing red with irritation when he did so. His eyes flicked from Sasuke, to the apartments, then to Sasuke again. "Ne, teme?"

Sasuke ignored him.

"Teme."

No answer.

"Dammit, Sasuke!"

"_What_, idiot?"

"Your brother went up five minutes ago. What the hell's taking them so long, do you think?"

Sasuke shrugged, not bothering to reply to Naruto's inquiry. This seemed to worry Naruto even more, thinking Sasuke didn't want to tell him his worst suspicions. Now Naruto wondered if he should run up to Sakura's apartment just to make sure nothing…fishy was going on. His clear blue eyes widened in horror as he imagined his poor, innocent Sakura-chan trapped in her apartment with the demon. That was enough to make him shoot up from crouching in the dirt, causing Sasuke to look up at him in irritation.

Sasuke reached out his arm and roughly pulled his friend back down, then snapped, "What do you think you're doing, Naruto?"

Naruto swatted Sasuke's hand off of him, trying to get back onto his feet. "Asshole! Let me go! Sakura-chan might need help!" He struggled against Sasuke's new grip on his arm, pulling against it in an attempt to get free.

Sasuke grunted from the effort of trying to hold Naruto down. He growled out, "Dobe, Itachi's not going to do anything to her! Besides, she can take care of herself!"

Naruto sent a fist flying towards Sasuke's face, forcing him to block it. The other boy retaliated with a punch of his own, causing Naruto to immediately kick out at him. Sasuke leapt forward, trying to grab Naruto and pin him down so he'd stop flailing around. In an instant, the two had gotten into a full-blown scuffle in the bushes outside of Sakura's apartment. And that was how two mighty shinobi, one from a prestigious clan and the other a student of a sannin, descended to the level of bickering teenage boys. Several passersby's attentions were caught, as dirt, rocks, and leaves were flying out of a cloud of dust produced by the squabbling boys. Various expletives came from behind the bushes, as well as yells of pain and anger.

Naruto and Sasuke's fight to the death was fortunately interrupted by Sakura and Itachi's exit from the nearby building. Naruto paused in his chokehold on Sasuke, while Sasuke stopped in his attempt to twist Naruto's arm behind his back. They quickly scrambled away from each other simultaneously, resuming their positions in the bushes as though nothing had happened.

Naruto's mouth dropped open in extreme shock. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"What the hell does Sakura think she's wearing? Doesn't she know any red-blooded male would be tempted by her if she went out looking like that?" Naruto exclaimed, glaring at his heart's sister for her foolishness.

Sasuke nodded in agreement with Naruto's words, looking daggers at his older brother and his friend. Just what was she thinking, getting all dressed up for his _brother, _of all people? And the two were walking exceptionally close as well. Damn.

Naruto stood up, dragging Sasuke with him. "C'mon, Sasuke. Let's follow 'em." Sasuke didn't need telling twice, and after waiting for Itachi and Sakura to travel a safe distance ahead, he and Naruto took off after them.

* * *

Sakura walked beside Itachi, feeling somewhat uncomfortable and nervous. She rubbed her stomach idly, wondering if it was hurting from hunger or uneasiness. She hadn't eaten anything except a quick cup of instant ramen at lunch, but this situation was enough to make her want to throw up anyways. _Probably both, _she mumbled inside her head, and cast her gaze up at the Uchiha leisurely strolling beside her with perfect ease. She grumpily noticed he was purposefully shortening his strides so she could keep up with him. Ugh, tall people. Sometimes Sakura really cursed her mere five foot three, especially when it put her in uncomfortable positions. Such as walking next to her date, who must have been at least six feet tall. She could only pray for the growth spurt that usually accompanied one's teenage years.

The pink-haired girl rubbed her arm absentmindedly, experiencing annoyance at the curious looks and surprise written on the faces of some of the people around them in the streets. She sighed, knowing it was inevitable that people would find out she was on a date with Itachi. After all, he _was_ the renowned heir of the well-known Uchiha clan, so the gossip mills would probably jump on the fact they had been seen together. Sakura grimaced, wincing internally at the backlash she would probably be getting after this from various fangirls, both at work and otherwise. Heaven knows she got enough jealous looks from girls for being best friends with Sasuke. She supposed she had better watch her back a little more carefully for a while, just to be safe.

Sakura looked around in curiosity when Itachi led her down a street she wasn't overly familiar with. It seemed to contain various little shops and restaurants, and appeared to be fairly popular from the way it was bustling with civilians. Breaking the silence between them, she asked, "I don't suppose you'd tell me where you're taking me?" He hadn't exactly been forthcoming about the details of what they were going to be doing on this outing together.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at her. "Of course I will, Sakura. All that was needed was to ask me."

She twitched. Itachi, sensing another outburst from her, cut her off. "I knew you would be hungry, and there is a small restaurant here that serves excellent tempura." A corner of his mouth raised slightly when she abruptly shot her head up in surprise, her ivy-green eyes questioning. Did this man know _everything_ about her?

"How did you know that tempura—?"

"Was your particular favorite?" Itachi injected in smoothly.

Sakura bobbed her head, suspiciously looking at him. "Did Sasuke tell you?"

Itachi gave a minuscule shake of his head, and with one of his faint smirks, said to her, "Sakura, it is a simple matter of observing. I seem to recall you consuming the entirety of the tempura my mother prepared when you and Naruto-kun dined with us a few months ago, as well as begging her for the recipe afterwards. It is reasonable to think you enjoyed it, is it not?"

She flushed (did Itachi have some sort of weird demon control over her blush reaction?). Sakura had forgotten that incident, and mentally cursed herself for allowing her moment of piggishness come back to bite her in the butt. "Do you always have to be so observant? It's kind of irritating." She petulantly bit out, turning her head away childishly.

Itachi's dark orbs flashed, and all he replied with was, "It is one of my duties to be so."

Sakura fell silent at that, guessing she had ventured into unappreciated waters in the conversation. She caught herself feeling guilty—after all, Itachi was going out of his way (though why he was certainly was a mystery to her) to take her out tonight, though she knew as an ANBU captain and clan member he probably had thousands of other tasks that needed his attention. Things that were much more important than a sixteen-year old chunin girl. Sure he had blackmailed her into this, but why would he have done so if not because he wanted her company? Somehow, Naruto and Sasuke's far-fetched ideas didn't seem too plausible at this moment. She sighed a little within, resolving to try and be a bit more pleasant during the course of the evening, just to make it a bit more enjoyable for both of them. Since she was going to do so, she might as well start apologizing for some of the more grumpy things she did or said.

They went on in silence for a few more moments, before Sakura said to him, "I'm sorry, again, for the whole name mix-up when you came to the door. I had just gotten a summons for a mission briefing so I wasn't really expecting you right that second."

"You are leaving for the mission soon, then?"

"Mm," Sakura hesitated, then decided it wouldn't hurt to talk with Itachi about the mission. He _was_ an ANBU captain, so he had the highest security clearance and, in a way, was her superior. "It's a…diplomatic trip to Suna, I guess, more than a mission."

For some reason, an incredibly odd look appeared in Itachi's eyes for a brief moment, something akin to humor or pleasure possibly, but it disappeared just as quick as it had come, so Sakura wasn't sure she had even seen it. "Indeed? What is the purpose for the assignment, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded, a little shy about having someone's complete attention on her for so long. Itachi's intentness on listening to her was a different, though not unwelcome, experience. Usually when she was with Naruto and Sasuke, they were so busy bickering or beating each other up, they only caught half of what she said, if she was lucky. "I'm going to help teach advanced medical techniques to the medic-nins there. Suna's really lacking in the medicinal department, so I'll be there for a while helping out through lectures and demonstrations. I'll be traveling with a special team to Suna, and they'll stay with me for the duration of my stay there." Her eyes glowed with the passion only medical topics could bring about, drawing Itachi's dark gaze.

Itachi's voice held soft undertones of praise when he told her, "Tsunade must have great faith in your skills to trust you with such a mission."

"She places too much in me sometimes, I think," Sakura confessed, embarrassed.

His tone was vaguely reproving. "I do not believe so, Sakura. You are reputed to be one of the top medics in the country. Doubting your abilities is foolish."

Sakura smiled, as though finding something humorous. "Do you give Sasuke this much encouraging praise as well, Itachi? He probably deserves it more than I do."

If Itachi had been any less dignified, Sakura swore he would have rolled his eyes or snorted. As it was, he smirked and said to her, "Do not compare yourself with my foolish little brother, Sakura. Unfortunately, his ego does not necessarily match the amount of strength and talent he contains presently, so praise is not required. He still has much to learn."

Sakura actually laughed at that, though she tried to muffle it by slapping a hand to her mouth to stop it from coming out. Poor Sasuke-kun, he certainly did have a giant stick-up-the-butt ego, even though he did have considerable talents . Itachi merely walked along with Sakura, listening to the soft laughter surrounding her, feeling…oddly satisfied at eliciting such a reaction from her.

Suddenly Itachi placed a hand on her arm, gently steering her towards one of the small restaurants along the street. Sakura, forgetting her resolve for a moment, shot Itachi a furious glare, pointedly looking at his hand. "Remember the agreement, Uchiha?"

Itachi conveniently ignored her words and her gaze, which would have been emitting sparks had it been possible, and guided her to the front entrance of the restaurant. He let her arm go just as she was strenuously trying to pull it away, causing her catapult backwards, which resulted in Itachi capturing her arm again in a gentle hold in order to prevent her from falling.

"Uchiha!"

The man didn't even look repentant. In fact, he looked far too amused again at Sakura's expense. Itachi raised both eyebrows at the fuming kunoichi. "You did not wish to fall, correct?"

Sakura looked like she was about to suffer from a massive heart attack brought on from the disease known as Uchiha-itis. "Let's just go in the damn restaurant!" And with that, she pulled her arm away from his touch, trying to ignore how warm it was. Stalking past him and into the restaurant, she mentally recited all of the reasons why putting a nice fist-shaped hole through her companion would not be a good idea. It seemed that ninety percent of the time that she was around this man, she was reminding herself not murder him.

* * *

In the alley behind the restaurant Itachi and Sakura had just entered into, Sasuke was attempting to restrain his blonde friend from leaping after them and putting a Rasengan through his brother. They had trailed the two all the way from the apartment, growing more and more annoyed at Sakura's seemingly intent conversation with Itachi. They hadn't been able to hear any of the words spoken between the two, but the facial expressions were enough for them. Sasuke had seen Itachi with more expression on his normally apathetic face than ever before, giving him an extremely bad feeling in his gut about where this was going. They really had to get Sakura away from his brother, and _soon._ She was too entrancing for her own damn good.

Plus, he was getting tired of continually holding Naruto back. Naruto had been mostly calm until they had come upon the restaurant, and Itachi had saved Sakura from falling. Sasuke had been forced to hear outraged complaints of how "The bastard's groping her!" and "Let's go beat the crap outta him, teme! Get your Chidori ready!"

Which now led to the situation of where Sasuke was attempting to save his brother's miserable life from an enraged fox boy. He sighed, snapping out, "Dobe, shut up for a second."

Naruto ceased his attempts of creating a Rasengan, turning around to look at his rival and friend. His expression turned devious as he let out a toothy grin, and started walking towards the back entrance of the restaurant. "Teme, c'mon, we're gonna start the sabotage now."

Sasuke reluctantly followed the blonde to the back door of the restaurant, semi-curious as to what the dobe was planning. Naruto cautiously pushed open the door, peeking around it. He was greeted with the sight of what appeared to be a kitchen, busy with the movement of cooks, waiters, and waitresses preoccupied with their jobs. Naruto slipped through the open door unnoticed in the crowded din, and after a moment's hesitation was followed by Sasuke. He figured it was best to just follow the lead of the master of pranksters in situations like these.

"Psst, teme! Over here!"

Sasuke looked to his right, where the hushed voice was coming from. Naruto's vibrant hair was peeking out from a closet, and he was frantically beckoning to the other boy. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke made his navigated his way through the crowded kitchen and over to the closet, where he was unceremoniously grabbed and pulled into the small area. The closet was entirely too cramped, hardly enough space for two teenage boys, and was filled with extra uniforms, cleaning supplies, some odd pieces of kitchenware. On the whole, it was extremely uncomfortable.

Sasuke scowled. "Now what, dobe?"

Something hit him in the face. "Put that on, Sasuke-bastard!"

Sasuke looked at what he held in his hands. A uniform? Ah, now he was starting to see what Naruto was plotting to do. Pretty good, except…

"Idiot, it's a little too obvious. Itachi and Sakura will recognize me instantly, even if I'm wearing this."

Naruto let out an evil laugh, his blue eyes glowing with a maniacal light. It was enough to cause Sasuke to nervously inch away from him, looking around for the door knob of the closet door should he need a quick escape. "Ne, teme, I always thought you'd make a better girl than a guy, y'know? You already sorta look girlish and everything, and you act like one too sometimes."

Sasuke glared at him, uncomprehending what he was saying.

"I don't think Sakura-chan _or_ Itachi would recognize the girl version of you, eh, Sasuke-_chan_?" Naruto said with a conniving grin.

Sasuke's pupils dilated in horror as he understood Naruto's plan. "No way, dobe. No way in hell."

Naruto whined, "C'mon Sasuke, it's for Sakura-chan's sake! It's no big deal!"

"Why the hell can't you do it then?"

"Sakura's seen my Oiroke no Jutsu too many times! She'll definitely know it's me right away!"

Sasuke mentally groaned, cursing Sakura for getting him into this situation. Going out in front of his brother in the form of a girl? Sasuke had liked to think he'd outgrown his hero worship of his brother, but he'd still never live it down if Itachi found out it was him. However, it was for Sakura's well-being, and if she could sacrifice herself to the company of the demon bastard for a little while, he supposed he could afford a few minutes disguised as a…girl.

Naruto watched the resignation cross Sasuke's face, gleefully noting he'd won. Sasuke sent his best patented Uchiha Glare of Death and Pain at Naruto, grumbling out, "Fine. But if anyone ever knows about it I'll know who the source of information was."

Naruto waved away Sasuke's words airily with a hand, telling him, "Now, I'm gonna show you the hand signs of my new and improved Oiroke no Jutsu, so pay attention teme." Naruto ran through the hand signs once, which was all Sasuke needed to memorize them. He practiced the hand signs flawlessly until Naruto felt he was ready to use it.

After Naruto had given him his approval and stepped out of the closet to "allow Sasuke-chan to keep her modesty" (he had earned a smack from Sasuke for that one), Sasuke stood there for a moment, brooding about what he was about to do. Exhaling loudly, he slowly proceeded to go through the signs, performing each one carefully. After all, he didn't want to mess it up and end up disfigured. Since it _was_ a jutsu created by Naruto, he was extra wary in using it.

When Sasuke was done, a puff of smoke appeared in the closet, covering his body. When it lifted after a few moments, Sasuke didn't move, his eyes closed for fear of what he'd see. He felt, for lack of a better word, weird. And there was definitely some additional weight on his chest. He shuddered, quickly pulling on the waitress uniform, still keeping his eyes tightly shut. What Naruto saw in this he'd never know. He shoved open the door after he was done, exiting from the godforsaken closet that he now loathed more than anything else.

He opened his eyes to find Naruto in front of him, already garbed in a cook's uniform. Naruto was staring at him, his face red from the effort of holding in laughter. Sasuke glared, though it must have lacked its usual effect due to his girlish features, because Naruto burst out in hysterics, leaning against the wall as he laughed.

"Shut up, dobe." Crap, was that his _voice?_ It had suddenly gotten all high pitched and…_cute!_ Sasuke went pale. This just made Naruto laugh harder and gasp for air.

"N-nice voice, t-teme! Mahahahaha!"

Sasuke stood there stonily until Naruto's chuckles subsided. He seemed to be avoiding saying anything, out of terror of hearing his new dulcet tones. Naruto quickly regained his plotting face, carefully keeping his eyes away from Sasuke lest he begin laughing again.

" 'Kay, teme, here's what we're gonna do." Naruto produced a small box from his pocket, redirecting Sasuke's gaze to it. "You're gonna go out and get your brother and Sakura-chan's orders. When you serve their drinks, you're going to put a few of these little pills into your brother's. Sasuke warily hand his hand out for the box, wondering if Naruto meant to poison Itachi. He wasn't feeling entirely opposed to the plan, either. However, written on the box, in large, bold print, was: "Fast-acting, industrial strength Laxatives! Relieve your body and your bowels today!"

Sasuke smirked at that, his eyes looking at Naruto with a questioning look. Naruto grinned, and said, "I bought 'em before we went to Sakura-chan's house, just in case they went to dinner. It's always best to be prepared, ne?"

Sasuke nodded, looking impressed at Naruto's rare foresight in the matter.

"Anyways, teme, I figured a couple of these will be enough to land your brother into the bathroom for a good amount of time. And Sakura-chan'll get tired of waiting for him and so grossed out, she'll leave! Genius, right?" Naruto exclaimed happily, rubbing his hands together. "Now, get out there and do your part."

Sasuke slipped the box into his apron pocket, turning around and starting to head towards the doors that led to the dining area. He was feeling confident until Naruto called to him, "And make sure you don't get molested, teme!"

Sasuke entered into the main dining room, catching sight of Sakura's bright pink hair almost immediately. He saw, to his chagrin, that she and Itachi were deeply involved in conversation, their heads tilted towards each other as they spoke. He scowled, and began stomping over towards their table. He almost made it there without incident, except one customer he walked by sent a wink and a grin at him. Sasuke nearly tripped on his own feet, his mind reeling with horror. He determinedly ignored the man, and made it a few more feet when a low wolf-whistle met his ears, and he saw yet another man eyeing him. Sasuke's already pale face grew even more white, and he shuddered in disgust. Sasuke, wondering what the big deal about him was, made his way over to a window to examine his reflection. Which turned out to be a bad idea, when he saw a tall, curvy girl with long, silky black pigtails and big eyes staring back at him. Only years of being emotionless and stoic saved him from screaming like the girl he now was.

He turned from the window quickly, and practically sprinted towards Itachi and Sakura's table, desiring to just get the job done and then spend his time inventing a Memory Jutsu that would wipe the day's events from his mind forever. He patiently waited until he had caught the two's attention, shifting on his feet nervously when Itachi's eyes raised to look at him.

He cleared his throat, dreading hearing his voice again. "U-uhm, may I help you tonight? I'm Sa-er, Saya, and I'll be your waitress."

Sakura sent a smile towards the clearly anxious waitress, figuring that she must have been new to her job. "Thank you, I'll have an iced tea, and the tempura soba dish, please."

Sasuke nodded, then turned towards his brother. "A-and for you, sir?"

Itachi's cool eyes observed Sasuke for a moment, who swallowed as a small smirk appeared on his brother's face. Sasuke reassured himself that it was nothing, that there was no way his brother could have known it was him. The knowing smirk didn't mean anything at all, Itachi just liked that particular expression. All in all, Sasuke did a pretty good job in convincing himself.

"I will take water, with the tempura udon," Itachi merely said, and turned his attention away from Sasuke.

Sasuke collected the menus, and then walked quickly back into the kitchen. He communicated his order to the cook, and waited for a few minutes while the food was prepared. Naruto was nowhere to be seen in the kitchen. Sasuke retrieved two glasses, heading to where the pitchers of drinks were kept. He filled one with Sakura's tea, and the other with water. Looking around him to see if he was being watched, and finding no one nearby, he pulled out the box Naruto had given him and dropped two into Itachi's drink, watching them dissolve.

* * *

So far, Sakura was having a surprisingly entertaining evening with Itachi, though she did have her moments of when he pissed her off. The restaurant he had brought her to was exceedingly nice and cozy—she had been afraid that as an Uchiha, he would take her somewhere grossly expensive. She was pleased to find herself proven wrong however, and enjoyed the peaceful ambiance of the tempura restaurant and the anticipation of her meal.

Sakura looked at Itachi oddly, as he was staring off in the direction the waitress had left in amusement, a small smirk on his face. Sakura had felt sorry for the poor girl, she had seemed so young and scared that she was sure she hadn't worked there for long. And Itachi could be a little daunting at times, so she had tried to reassure the girl with a grin. That was until Itachi had looked so interested in her, and Sakura had felt a twinge of annoyance before she had nipped it in the bud. She chastised herself for getting too used to Itachi's attention being only on her, maybe he liked tall, dark-haired women more than pink-haired, boyish girls.

She grimaced softly, playing with her hands. "Something wrong?"

Itachi turned his attention towards her, noting her rather perturbed expression. "No, just something...interesting."

"Oh," she said quietly.

Itachi gave a half-smile, his dark eyes laughing at her. "There is no need for jealousy, Sa-ku-ra."

As he knew it would, his words caused Sakura to puff up in indignation. "Jealousy? There's no jealousy, Uchiha!" Her eye twitched at the very idea of it. Ridiculous, there had to be feelings for there to be jealousy. And there definitely weren't any feelings between her and Itachi. Maybe strong dislike on her part, but nothing else.

"Hn."

"Don't give me your monosyllabic, typical-Uchiha answer!"

"…Uchiha answer?"

Sakura blushed, not about to tell Itachi that she had labeled all of the common expressions of the Uchiha. Uchiha Glare, Uchiha Answer, the list went on and on. She came up with them after years of being exposed to Sasuke's never-changing expressions. Quickly getting off the subject, she asked, "Are you going to tell me what was so interesting?"

"I will, later."

"Promise?"

Itachi only looked at her, making Sakura roll her eyes. Of course, Uchiha honor and all that. Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their food, which made Sakura forget all about her ire with Itachi as her face lit up at the thought of eating her tempura.

The same jumpy waitress hurriedly set down their plates, causing Sakura's mouth to water at the sight. She picked up her chopsticks eagerly as the waitress put the drinks near the edge of the table, hardly containing her enthusiasm for the food. Sakura had many inhibitions, but eating to her heart's content was not one of them.

The black-haired girl stood back, respectively asking, "Can I get you anything else for the evening?"

Sakura shook her head, cheerfully waving her hand in a dismissive gesture and telling her, "No, thanks so much, I think we have everything—oops!" For as Sakura had waved her hand, the chopsticks she was loosely holding in it flew from her grasp and onto the floor. She started to get up, but the waitress beat her to it kneeling down to the ground to pick up the utensils. Sakura blushed again, apologizing to the girl. The waitress looked up at Sakura, holding out the chopsticks to her.

She said softly, "Here you are, miss."

Alas, to Sakura's horror, when she reached out to take the eating utensils from the waitress, her hand bumped into Itachi's water glass that was precariously seated at the edge of the table. The water glass fell off the table—

And onto Saya the waitress, with the water landing on her face, some going into her still open mouth, and drenching her clothes. A strange look came onto the girl's face, and she shot up from the ground, turned around, and raced towards the back of the restaurant where the bathrooms were. Sakura stood up to follow, but Itachi, who had observed the whole thing with great interest, stopped her, shaking his head. "Sakura, sit down and eat. Having water spilled on you is hardly life-threatening. You can apologize later."

Sakura reluctantly sat down, seeing the sense in Itachi's words. After all, the waitress was probably mad and didn't want to see her now. If someone had done that to Sakura they most likely would have been lying unconscious by now. Sakura dug into her tempura and soba, savoring the taste of it and letting out a low moan. This had to be her favorite food in the entire universe, without a doubt. She happily chewed it and swallowed, eagerly putting more into her mouth in the next instant.

Itachi, ignoring his own food in favor of watching Sakura eat, regarded her with a steady gaze. Dining with Sakura was a welcome and refreshing change from any other woman he had every consented to spend an evening with, mostly at the urge of his parents and they had usually been clan members. Other women had always daintily eaten and never finished, focusing more on him than they had their food. Sakura was exactly the opposite, and was endearing in the intent and enthusiastic way she enjoyed her food.

Sakura, sensing someone's eyes on her, looked up and saw him observing her. She tilted her head in confusion. "Is there something on my face?"

And that right there was Itachi's undoing. The damn way she tilted her head and looked at him with wide green eyes. Her teammates were right to guard her so closely—Sakura was a dangerously attractive girl. And he didn't have any intention of ever letting her go.

Itachi shook his head, and picked up his chopsticks.

* * *

When Sakura and Itachi had finished their meal, Itachi had paid the waiter that had replaced their former waitress after she had mysteriously disappeared on them (Sakura hadn't been able to find her so she could apologize). Sakura had been a little hesitant about letting Itachi pay for her dinner, but figured since this _was _technically a date and he probably would refuse to let her pay, it was okay. They left the restaurant afterwards, and outside darkness had already begun descending on Konoha, causing the streetlights to turn on and illuminate the street in a gentle glow. A light drizzle of rain had begun to fall on the city, with brief flashes of lightning being seen in the distance.

Sakura walked alongside Itachi peacefully after assuring him she didn't mind a bit of rain, supposing that they would be heading to her apartment now. Sakura shivered a little, moving closer to the nearest source of warmth, which just happened to be Itachi at the moment. She liked the rain, but didn't exactly fancy the cold that came with it. And it was either freeze or get closer to Itachi. Now that was being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Itachi looked down when he felt something brush up against his side, only to see a small and disgruntled female who was obviously trying to be subtle about getting warm. "And here I thought you didn't mind the rain, Sakura."

She lifted her head to glare up at him. "I don't, Uchiha, I just get cold easily. But we're not too far from my apartment, so I don't care about getting a little wet."

"Ah."

A soft silence reigned over them a little longer, and then Sakura asked quietly, "Itachi?"

"Hm?"

She paused, trying to find the right way to ask him this. She sighed, and decided to throw caution to the wind. "Why did you ask me to come with you today? I mean, you could have told us to do anything, but this is what you came up with? A date with me?"

"Carpe diem." Was Itachi's vague reply.

Sakura blinked. Just what was he talking about? She had no idea. "Huh?"

Itachi elaborated further. "I decided to seize the moment. Or the day, whichever you prefer."

That still didn't clear up Sakura's confusion. "To do what?" She questioned him suspiciously. Just why did the man have to be so damn mystifying about everything he said?

Itachi didn't answer for a moment, vexing Sakura greatly. When she opened his mouth to ask again, he interrupted her, his voice taking on a teasing quality. "So, Sakura, did you still have the need to, what was it, 'punch me through a tree'?

Sakura neatly skirted a puddle lying in the road, grumpily realizing he was avoiding her question. And he had asked her an even more annoying question in return. "No," she muttered.

Itachi smirked, his obsidian eyes focusing on her again. "Oh?"

She grew infuriated at the pure satisfaction and smugness she could just _hear_ in his tone. "No, alright? Don't get cocky about it." She may have to change her mind about punching him through a tree if he kept this up.

* * *

In a tree not far from where Sakura and Itachi were currently walking, two boys were perched, both thoroughly determined not to fail in their chosen duty. Naruto looked over at Sasuke, who was crouched on a branch next to him, and couldn't help but feel guilty about the miserable look on his face. After Sakura had accidentally spilled Itachi's Laxative-added water onto Sasuke, some had gone into his mouth and down his throat. Admittedly, he had only swallowed a small amount, but it had still been enough to send him racing into the bathroom. What was worse, he had still been in girl mode, and had gone running into the men's bathroom while still appearing to be a girl, which had startled most of the guys in there. Sasuke had been forced to take time to release the jutsu, and then had spent an hour on the toilet in complete misery.

Naruto had been furious that his clever plan had completely backfired on him, though he had reluctantly admitted that there had been a twist none of them had foreseen.

Now Naruto was apprehensively watching his friend grin murderously, his eyes focused on his brother who was walking down the street towards the tree they were hidden in. Sasuke was mumbling something about how his "chance had finally come".

Naruto asked him nervously, "Er…Sasuke? Just what are you gonna do to Itachi?"

Sasuke let out a low laugh, and eerily smiled. "It's perfect, after six years of waiting! And it's raining with lightning too. He'll never see it coming."

Naruto sighed, maybe the Laxative incident had finally sent Sasuke over the edge. That and being forced to become a girl. "Teme?"

Sasuke rubbed his hands together, telling Naruto, "I'm gonna Kirin the hell out of him!"

"Kirin?"

"A new jutsu I've been working on. I use lightning from the sky to direct it wherever I want it to go."

"As much as I'd like to see Itachi hit by lightning teme, isn't that going a little far? After all, you might hit Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke processed Naruto's words, his maniacal air deflating as he returned to his senses. Damn, there went his chance to get rid of his bastard brother so he couldn't bother Sakura anymore. Besides, Kaa-chan would be terribly upset if something happened to 'Itachi-chan'. Deep down, he didn't really want to off Itachi. Deep, deep, deep down.

"Fine. I'll just direct it to land somewhere near them after they walk by. Maybe it'll singe his girly hair."

Naruto nodded his agreement. "And Sakura-chan'll be so frightened that she won't ever want to see the bastard again!"

The two crouched further behind the leaves to wait for their chance, and didn't have to wait for long. Both pairs of dark eyes and sky blue eyes narrowed as they watched the pair below walk past the tree. Naruto turned his head towards Sasuke, mouthing, 'go'. Sasuke closed his eyes, concentrating, and began to form the necessary hand signs. Naruto looked up at the rainy sky, as the clouds began swirling and the lightning seemed to be coming faster and more often.

* * *

Sakura jumped as a loud crack of thunder sounded, followed by a brilliant flash of lightning. She frowned, looking around before she saw a tree back in the distance burning brilliantly (though unknown to Itachi or Sakura, it seemed that Sasuke had yet to perfect his new jutsu). She gasped, frantically looking around at Itachi. Dammit, she didn't know any water jutsu off the top of her head! "Itachi, if that fire spreads to the buildings around it—!" But, luckily, Itachi was already ahead of her, calmly forming hand signs with rapid perfection.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"

Sakura watched from next to Itachi as the raindrops falling from the sky quickly meshed together in a large body of water to form an unbelievably gigantic dragon, which then wrapped around the tree and quickly extinguished the blazing fire. Afterwards, it collapsed into individual droplets once again, showering the already wet ground with a mass of liquid. She stood quietly in awe of Itachi's ease of using such a complicated jutsu in such a limited amount of time. She knew how many hand signs it took to succeed in performing the jutsu. Furthermore, that was a jutsu that could only be used next to great amounts of water, but she had no idea that the rain could be manipulated by the jutsu as well. Her fingers curled into her fist tightly as such a raw display of power reminded her just how far she still had to go

"Sakura, come." Itachi's voice woke her from her reverie, and she slowly walked over to his side again, his unfathomable eyes looking at her. They resumed walking through Konoha in silence, until she heard Itachi speak again. "You will grow in time, Sakura. Do not worry over your current abilities."

Sakura smiled slightly at Itachi's attempt to comfort her, thankful for his apparent talent for reading her mind for once. "Itachi," she said tilting her head up to look at him, while blinking away the rain that got in her eyes. Itachi merely waited for what she was going to say.

"Thank you."

Itachi didn't say anything, and Sakura was glad for it, as she was feeling a little bit weird. Huh, maybe she was coming down with a cold. That must be why her insides were feeling kind of topsy-turvy and her head felt light. Must be a stomachache and headache.

Far too soon for her liking, they made it back to her apartment complex, though Sakura tried to convince herself that she wasn't disappointed that the date was ending. She inwardly scowled as she heard Inner Sakura singing something about being in denial. Sometimes she really hated her innermost self.

Itachi stopped in front of the entrance to the complex, his tall form completely dwarfing her small one. Sakura tried not to look at him too much, and especially tried not to note just how much the raindrops glistening on his skin and dampening his long hair highlighted his beauty. Dammit, she wasn't noticing!

"I'll say goodnight here, Sakura. You have an early day tomorrow for the mission briefing," Itachi told her.

She sighed, muttering something that sounded like "don't remind me". Sakura, trying to live up to her resolve of being pleasant, even though it didn't require much effort at this point, said, "Thanks for the date…I guess. I mean, it was enjoyable, even though I was being blackmailed into it. Which I still haven't forgiven you for, you know."

"Hn. I'll have to make it up to you sometime soon, then."

She gawked at the man in front of her. "Make it up to me? Just what do you mean by—"

"Sakura, our date is over, correct?"

Sakura wasn't exactly sure why he was asking that, but he had that same anticipatory look in his eye as he did earlier that evening, when he had said she looked lovely. Yes, caution was definitely best in situations like this. She said, slowly, "I…suppose? I'm about to go into my apartment, after all."

His dark eyes shone with amusement. "Good. Then the earlier rules no longer apply."

And before Sakura could ask just what he meant by that, he reached out, lightly grasping her hand and pulling her gently towards him.

"U-Uchiha! What're you—"

Sakura abruptly closed her mouth when she felt his hand softly tilt her chin up, giving her time to pull away if she so wished. However, Sakura's normally lightning-fast brain had decided to leave her in her time of need, leaving only a shell-shocked little female left in the place of her usual self.

_Oh…guess he meant the no touching rules no longer apply, huh? Damn sneaky geniuses._ Sakura distantly heard that thought travel through her frozen mind. Was he going to do what she think he was? Wait! Why would Itachi kiss her? He didn't…like her, did he? Now that Sakura was faced with the situation, she had to admit that his behavior lately did sort of point towards that conclusion.

Well damn. And here she thought she'd always been smart, and attuned to feelings. And she was just figuring this out _now?_

Sakura panicked as she saw Itachi's face come towards hers closer and closer, undecided and trying to analyze just what was happening. She shut her alarmed green orbs tightly, not sure what was going to happen.

She felt something soft feather across her cheek in a small caress, before she felt Itachi move away from her slightly. Her eyes shot open in surprise, her fingers reaching up to where Itachi had just kissed her on the cheek.

Her eyes met the sight of a smirking male standing before her, obviously aware of what she had thought he was going to do. Her face turned a bright red and she balled up her fist, ready to beat the crap out of him. For what? She wasn't sure. But she was frustrated, and needed to take it out on someone.

The next thing she knew, she heard a loud scream of "Nooo!" and found herself being dragged away from Itachi. To her befuddlement, the ones dragging her away from his vicinity were none other than Naruto and Sasuke. But for some reason, they both smelled like a burnt piece of toast and Sasuke was holding his stomach like he had to go to the bathroom.

She winced as Naruto started shouting. "How could you let him do that to you, Sakura-chan! And you, bastard, don't even think about coming near her!"

Sakura, getting annoyed, pulled Naruto off of her. "Naruto, Sasuke, just what do you guys think you're doing here?"

Sasuke scowled. "Looking out for you, of course."

Sakura eyes grew bright, and she leveled the two with a dangerous glare. She felt Itachi come up beside her, and heard him say, "And that, Sakura, is what I was so interested in at the restaurant."

She didn't understand what Itachi was talking about for a split second, before she noticed Sasuke flinch. On second thought, Sasuke really bore a strange resemblance to—she gasped as the obvious truth came falling down on her like a ton of bricks. Naruto and Sasuke shaped bricks, at that. "You bastards! You followed us!"

Naruto and Sasuke, ironically, were momentarily saved by Itachi. The elder Uchiha looked at his younger brother, and told him in an icy voice, "Sasuke, we're going home. I'll properly talk to you about your…interference there." Sasuke just glared resentfully at his brother.

Itachi then turned to Sakura, his tone softening somewhat. "Sakura, go in and get some sleep. I will see you tomorrow for the mission briefing."

Sakura looked at him, more confused than ever. "What are you talking about, Itachi? Why would you be at the briefing?"

Itachi was wearing an odd smile on his face, as if he found humor in her words. "Who do you think is the leader of the team accompanying you on your mission?" He laughed softly at the incredulous look on her face. "I look forward to working with you, Sa-ku-ra." With that, Itachi walked past the three stricken teens, heading in the direction of the Uchiha compound.

Sakura's mind was nearly blank. The only thing currently running through it was: _Me…Itachi…stuck on a mission with him for weeks?_

Naruto and Sasuke would later swear that their eardrums had shattered with the force of Sakura's agonized scream.

* * *

**Okay, so I left room for if I ever wanted to continue this fic later in a sequel ^_^. I appreciate constructive criticism, helpful hints, or just happy comments, so please leave a review!**


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